Collecting like terms

Objective. Simplify expressions by combining terms with identical letter parts.

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2. Worked example
3. Practice
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Learn: the key idea

Only terms with exactly the same letters and powers can be combined. 3x and 5x are like terms; 3x and 3x² are not.

Worked example

Simplify 5a + 3b − 2a + 7b.

1 $Group the a terms: 5a - 2a = 3a.$
2 $Group the b terms: 3b + 7b = 10b.$

Answer: 3a + 10b

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Common mistake. Combining x and x² because both contain x.

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