Question 94966
Given:
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[5(-x-8)-20] - [5-3(x-5)+19]
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To expand and simplify this begin by working each bracketed sets. The first bracketed
set is:
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[5(-x-8)-20]
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The terms inside the parentheses cannot be combined. So within the brackets do the multiplication
first. That is multiply out 5(-x-8) to get -5x -40. Substitute this result into the brackets
and you get:
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[-5x - 40 -20]
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Then the -40 and -20 are like terms that combine to -60. So the brackets now contain:
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[-5x - 60]
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Remember this result. Now let's go to the second set of brackets and work on it.
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[5-3(x-5)+19]
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Again the parentheses contain terms that cannot be combined. So the next step is to do the
distributed multiplication of -3 times the terms in the parentheses to get:
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-3(x - 5) = -3x + 15
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Substitute that into the brackets to get:
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[5 - 3x + 15 + 19]
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Now combine the numbers -3x + 5 + 15 + 19 = -3x + (5 + 15 + 19) = -3x + 39
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This is the term in our second set of brackets. Now combining the two sets of brackets with
the negative sign between them results in:
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[-5x - 60] - [-3x + 39]
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Since the first set of brackets is preceded by an implied + sign, we can just remove the
brackets:
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-5x - 60 - [-3x + 39]
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And since the second set of brackets is preceded by a minus sign when we remove the brackets
we need to change the signs of the terms inside the brackets. This leads to:
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-5x - 60 + 3x - 39
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Now we can combine the -5x and + 3x to get -2x and combine the -60 and -39 to get - 99.
What we are left with is:
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-2x - 99
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That's the answer to this problem. Hope the explanation gives you some insight as to how
to do the problem.
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