Simplifying Math Expressions: How To Combine Like Terms.

combining like terms

Add or subtract the terms with the same variable or with no variable at all. This simplifies expressions to their simplest form.

Combining like terms is the process of adding or subtracting expressions that have the same variables and exponents. In other words, if two terms have the same variable raised to the same power, then they are considered like terms and can be combined or simplified.

For example, in the expression 2x + 3y + 5x – y, the terms 2x and 5x are like terms, as they both have the variable x raised to the first power. Similarly, the terms 3y and – y are also like terms because they both have the variable y raised to the first power, but with opposite signs. Therefore, we can combine the like terms as follows:

2x + 3y + 5x – y = (2x + 5x) + (3y – y)
= 7x + 2y

Now we have simplified the given expression by combining the terms that are like terms. The final result is a simplified expression that has the same value as the original expression, but with fewer terms. We can apply the same rule to any expression that has like terms.

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