Let's break this down. We're going to add 5492 and 8596 together.

Step 1: We'll start by adding the digits 2 & 6 in column 1 and get 8.

Step 2: We'll start by adding the digits 9 & 9 in column 2 and get 18.
We'll write down the last digit 8 and carry the 1 to the next column.

Step 3: We'll start by adding the digits 4 & 5 in column 3 and get 10.
We'll write down the last digit 0 and carry the 1 to the next column.

Step 4: We'll start by adding the digits 5 & 8 in column 4 and get 14.
We'll write down the last digit 4 and carry the 1 to the next column.

So, 5492 + 8596 = 14088.

