More Combining Like Terms

Alright...so now I teach some very useful properties...

Distributive Property: The number outside the parentheses gets multiplied by every number within

a(b + c) = ab + ac

a(b - c) = ab - ac

-----

In exponents:

a⁰ = 1

a^m * aⁿ = a^{m + n}

a^m / aⁿ = a^m-n

a^-m = 1/a^m

Man, that's a lot of rules....I'm sorry if you want practice with any of this stuff, I can't really help you - I'm not good at making up those practice problems....

So...more with like terms.  Knowing what we know now....simplify:

x²(3x - 2) + 5

Ok...

Using the properties above...

x²(3x) + x²(-2) + 5

REMEMBER: If the term has no exponent, it is assumed to be a 1

3x³ - 2x² + 5

Click here to go to the first page of Combining Like Terms
Click here to go back to the index.