Remember that only like terms can be combined. An expression in simplest form has no like terms and parentheses.
- 7s+7t
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.
2s - 9s + 8t - 1 t
⇓
2s + ( - 9s) + 8t + ( - 1t)
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 s-terms and two t-terms. Let's simplify the expression!
