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simplifying expressions

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summary
the essence of simplifying algebraic expressions lies in understanding and applying the fundamental principles of combining like terms and manipulating parentheses.
  • combining like terms involves adding or subtracting coefficients of terms with the same variable part.
  • the distributive law allows for the simplification of expressions by grouping like terms, which must have identical variable parts or differ only in coefficients.
  • multiplication is commutative, meaning the order of factors does not affect the product, allowing for the identification of like terms even when variables are in a different order.
  • when simplifying expressions involving parentheses, if there is an addition sign before the parentheses, they can be removed without altering the terms inside.
  • subtracting an expression in parentheses requires changing each term inside to its opposite sign upon removal of the parentheses.
chapters
00:02
understanding like terms
00:43
the distributive law and simplification
02:46
commutativity in multiplication
04:18
simplifying expressions involving parentheses

quiz

algebra, equations, and inequalities