document.write( "Question 341349: Trying to help my daughter solve the following..... 7.5 (a - 3) and it says to use the distributive property (?) and expand like terms when possible. I havent done math in forEVER..'dist.prop' and 'like terms' are mysteries to me! \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #244425 by Theo(13342) $\"\"$ $\"About$

You can put this solution on YOUR website!
I believe the problem is 7.5 * (a-3) where * means multiplication, i.e.:
\n" ); document.write( "7.5 * (a-3) means 7.5 times (a-3)
\n" ); document.write( "the distributive property states that:
\n" ); document.write( "a * (b + c) is equal to (a * b) + (a * c).
\n" ); document.write( "if c is negative, then it states that:
\n" ); document.write( "a * (b - c) is equal to (a * b) - (a * c).
\n" ); document.write( "in your problem, that becomes:
\n" ); document.write( "7.5 * (a - 3) = 7.5*a - 7.5*3 which becomes 7.5*a - 22.5 which can also be written as 7.5a - 22.5
\n" ); document.write( "like terms means the terms are the same.
\n" ); document.write( "combining like terms means you add them together.
\n" ); document.write( "if you have 5*x + 6*x, then you combine like terms by bringing them together to get 11*x.
\n" ); document.write( "you can understand that a lot better if x represents something you can see, like a nickel or a dime.
\n" ); document.write( "5 * a nickel + 6 * a nickel equals 5 nickels plus 6 nickels equals 11 nickels.
\n" ); document.write( "5 * a dime + 6 * a dime equals 5 dimes plus 6 dimes equals 11 dimes.
\n" ); document.write( "in the first equation, if x represents a nickel, then you get 5*x + 6*x = 11*x
\n" ); document.write( "in the second equation, if x represents a dime, then you get 5*x + 6*x = 11*x
\n" ); document.write( "in the problem you stated, you did not have like terms to bring together.
\n" ); document.write( "7.5 * (a - 3) resulted in 7.5*a - 7.5*3 which resulted in 7.5*a - 22.5
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