I need someone to refresh my brain on collecting like terms..
17a + 6b - 11a - 9b= thank you
17a 11a i think
6a-3b
Of course! Collecting like terms involves combining or simplifying similar or like terms in an algebraic expression. To properly collect like terms, you need to combine coefficients (numbers in front of variables) when the variables are exactly the same.
Let's work through your equation: 17a + 6b - 11a - 9b.
Step 1: Group the like terms. In this example, we have two sets of like terms: 17a and -11a, and 6b and -9b.
Step 2: Combine the coefficients of each set of like terms separately. For the first set, 17a - 11a, the coefficients are 17 and -11. Subtracting these coefficients gives you 17a - 11a = 6a. For the second set, 6b - 9b, the coefficients are 6 and -9. Subtracting these coefficients gives you 6b - 9b = -3b.
Step 3: Write your results together. After combining the like terms, the simplified expression becomes 6a - 3b.
Therefore, the simplified form of your original equation is 6a - 3b.