Chapter 9 · Questions · page 57 of 68
How do you combine like terms?
Short answerAdd the numbers in front of terms with exactly the same variable part, and add the plain numbers together. 5y - 2 + 3y + 7 becomes 8y + 5.
levelPre-algebra
standard7.EE.A.1
practiceLike terms and distributing
Like terms have the same letters raised to the same powers. 5y and 3y are like terms, so they combine to 8y. 5y and 5y² are not, and they stay separate. Each sign belongs to the term right after it.
How to use it
- Underline the terms that share a variable part, keeping the sign in front of each.
- Add their coefficients.
- Add the constants.
- Write the result with one term of each kind.
Example
Where it goes wrong
- Combining unlike terms, such as 3x + 2 into 5x.
- Dropping the minus sign when moving a term.
- Forgetting that x on its own means 1x.