Hi,
Re TY
What is being asked for in doing questions of this type, is not so much a question of understanding but
'Following the Rules' so to speak as to simplifying by doing the steps in a particular order.
"PEMDAS", which is turned into the phrase "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally".
It stands for "Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division, and Addition and Subtraction".
One begins by 'removing' the parenthesis by distributing the -2, in this case,
multiplying each term inside the parenthesis by -2
'Distributing' the -2 and combining Like Terms
-16x + 6 + 2x
-14x + 6
'Distributing' the 3 and combining Like Terms
3(7 + x) + x
21 + 3x + x
