Answer
$179^\circ 19'$
Work Step by Step
In this kind of addition, we add the degrees with the degrees and the minutes with the minutes:
$97^\circ42'+81^\circ 37'=(97+81)^\circ+(42+37)'=178^\circ 79'$
This can be rewritten as:
$178^\circ 79'=178^\circ +60' +19'=179^\circ 19'$
