Simplifying Expressions

Front

What is simplifying expressions?

Back

Simplifying expressions means to combine like terms and perform operations to make an expression easier to understand or work with.

Front

What are like terms?

Back

Like terms are terms that have the same variable raised to the same power. For example, 3x and 5x are like terms.

Front

What is a coefficient?

Back

A coefficient is a number that is multiplied by a variable in an expression. For example, in 4x, 4 is the coefficient.

Front

What is a variable?

Back

A variable is a symbol, usually a letter, that represents an unknown number in an expression or equation.

Front

What is a constant term?

Back

A constant term is a number on its own in an expression that does not change. For example, in the expression 3x + 5, 5 is the constant term.

Front

How do you combine like terms?

Back

To combine like terms, add or subtract the coefficients of the terms that have the same variable. For example, 2x + 3x = 5x.

Front

What is the distributive property?

Back

The distributive property states that a(b + c) = ab + ac. It allows you to multiply a term by each term inside a parenthesis.

Front

Simplify the expression: 2(x + 3) + 4.

Back

2x + 6 + 4 = 2x + 10.

Front

What does it mean for two terms to be unlike terms?

Back

Unlike terms are terms that have different variables or different powers of the same variable. For example, 2x and 3y are unlike terms.

Front

What is the first step in simplifying the expression 8(x + 5) - 4(x + 4)?

Back

The first step is to apply the distributive property: 8x + 40 - 4x - 16.