Question

(-v^3-v^2-1)-(v^4-v^2-v-1)+(v^3-3v^2+6) how do you begin to break this problem down?

Answer 1

Collect like powers of \[v\].
Note that you have \[-(v^4-v^2-v-1)\] as the second big group, so distribute the negative through and get \[-v^4+v^2+v+1\]. Now you just have one gigantic sum:

\[-v^3-v^2-1 -v^4+v^2+v+1 +v^3-3v^2+6\]

From here, add up like powers of \[v\].

Hope this is a helpful start! :)