The first step in simplifying this expression is to identify which, if any, terms can be combined. Remember, only like terms — constant terms or terms with the same variable — can be combined.
3x + 1/4 + 2y + 1/4 + 7x - y
In this case, we have two x-terms, two y-terms, and two constants.
We can combine each of them. To simplify the expression we will rearrange it according to the Distributive Property to combine the like terms.
