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Like Terms Definition
Like Terms – Definition: Two terms are said to be like terms if they have the same variable name and the same exponent. For example, 4x and -4x are like terms because they both have the variable x and the exponent is the same.
What are Like Terms?
Like terms are terms that have the same variables and coefficients.
Like Terms Examples
In mathematics, two terms are called like if they have the same algebraic structure. In other words, the terms are like if they can be combined using the same operations. For instance, the terms 3 and 6 are like because they can both be written as 3 + 3. The terms -5 and 5 are not like, because they cannot be combined using the same operations.
Combining Like Terms
Combine like terms to create a simplified equation.
3x + 4x
7x
Combining like terms is a process of adding or subtracting algebraic expressions that contain variables with the same exponent. The process of combining like terms usually involves collecting all the terms with the same variable, and then combining them using the usual rules of arithmetic. For example, consider the expression “3x + 5x + 2x.” In this expression, the terms “3x” and “5x” are like terms because they both have the variable “x” with the same exponent (in this case, “1”). The term “2x” is also a like term. To combine like terms, we simply add the coefficients of the like terms together. So, in this case, we would have “3x + 5x + 2x = 10x.”
Simplify by Combining Like Terms
-4x
-2x
-6x
