Remember that only like terms can be combined. An expression in simplest form has no like terms and parentheses.
- 5w+2g
Practice makes perfect
An expression in simplest form has no like terms and parentheses. Let's first rewrite this expression as a sum to identify all like terms.
2w - 1g - 7w + 3g
⇓
2w + ( - 1g) + ( - 7w) + 3g
Remember that like terms — constant terms or terms with the same variable and the same exponent — can be combined. In this case, we have two w-terms and two g-terms. We will rearrange the expression according to the Commutative Property of Addition. Then, we will combine like terms to simplify the expression.
