Note 1: A constant number (A number without an exponent) will have the degree of 0. Always.Note 2: A variable without a visible exponent obtains an exponent of 1. Ex. x = Note 3: The operation sign before a coefficient/constant indicates if it's positive or negative. If no subtraction (or even addition) sign is in front of a value, it's positive. If a subtraction sign stands in front of a value, the value is negative. If an addition sign stands in front of the value, the value is negative.Note 4: When a number is not standing in front of a variable, it translates to 1 times that variable. Ex. x = 1xNote 5: coefficients contain a number and a variable. ___________________________________________________________ Step 1: Remove the parentheses. [we do this by distributing what's in the parentheses by 1. For the first part (-7ab + 7a-1), you can simply just remove the parentheses because it doesn't affect what's in the parentheses whatsoever. For the second one, (ab +8) however, you distribute -1 which gets us, essentially, different number signs.