SOLUTION: How do you simplify expressions? Example 8x - 4y + 3x

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Question 7676: How do you simplify expressions? Example 8x - 4y + 3x
Answer by glabow(165) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Simplifying means doing as much of the arithmetic as possible.
in 8x - 4y + 3x you can't do the subtraction of 8x - 4y since x's and y's are different. But look at 8x + 3x. You can factor x to get x(8+3) which is x(11). We normally write this as 11x.
So 11x - 4y is a simple as this express can get.
One of the best equations to know for simplification is
a (b + c) = ab + ac [this is the distributive rule]
Do you see how it was used with 8x + 3x?