To find the term independent of x (constant term) in ($x^a$ + 1/$x^b$)^n:

Step 1: Write general term $T_{r+1}$ = C(n,r) * $x^{a(n-r)}$ * $x^{-br}$ = C(n,r) * $x^{an - (a+b)r}$. Step 2: Set exponent = 0: an - (a+b)r = 0, so r = $\frac{an}{a+b}$. Step 3: If r is a non-negative integer <= n, the independent term is C(n, r).

If r is not an integer, there is no term independent of x.