Hello, there! In math class today we reviewed our homework about the distributive property and combining like terms, and looked at transposing. But in this scribe I'll be explaining the distibutive property and combining like terms, quite obviously. In our purple book, page 50 has questions dealing with the distributive property and combining like terms. I'll be explaining a few of them by walking through it. I hope it helps, and enjoy! ;)
eg. 4a - 2(a + 9) = 6
As soon as you identify what the question is, you multiply the number that is touching the brackets. This is using the distributive property. What's left you just bring down. So you would multiply 2 by a and 9 giving you 2a and +18.
Once you're up to this point, you would combine like terms.
Now your question is simplified to a two step equation. Add the opposite, and balance out by adding 18 on both sides.
Now, you are left with a lovely one step equation. Simply use opposite inverse to isolate the variable. Since 2a is a multiplying question (because 2 is being multiplied by a) you would divide 2a by 2 to isolate a. To balance out, you multiply 12 by 2 as well.
So that is how you would solve for your variable! But you aren't done yet. You need to verify.
So that's how you would solve a distributive property and combining like terms question! If for some reason I haven't explained something enough, or perhaps you don't understand something above, please feel free to comment!
