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| Name: alan Who is asking: Parent Level of the question: All Question: simplify 7x + 4y + 2x - 6y
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Alan, This is like adding apples and oranges - we can put apples together, and we can put oranges together, but we can't put apples and oranges together because they are not the same. For example, if we have 7 apples and 8 oranges, and then we gain 2 apples and lose 6 oranges, we will end up with 9 apples and 2 oranges. That is,
In the question below, the x and y are unknown variables, so we can't put together the x's and y's, just like we can't put together apples and oranges, because we don't know if the x and y are the same (we must assume they are different). Thus,
Paul |
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