Reiny (Previous problem) better form would be to place the equal sign in front of each new line

You also have errors
-3(x + 3)- 2(x + 4)
= -3x - 9 - 2x - 8
= -3x - 2x - 9 - 8
= -5x - 17

So -3 x 3 made -9. how did the 2 become negative, I thought it was a subtraction sign?

you can think of it as

(-3)(x+3) + (-2)(x+4)

so it would look like this

-3x - 9 -2x - 8
What happens to the addition sign? Can you show me how?

come on. adding a negative number is the same as subtracting a positive one.

6-4 = 6+(-4)

Think of it as moving left and right on the number line. Subtracting 4 means moving left 4 places. So does adding -4.

To answer your question, let's go through the steps of simplifying the expression:

-3(x + 3) - 2(x + 4)

First, distribute the -3 and the -2 to the terms inside the parentheses:

-3 * x - 3 * 3 - 2 * x - 2 * 4

Simplifying further, we have:

-3x - 9 - 2x - 8

Now, let's combine like terms:

(-3x - 2x) + (-9 - 8)

When combining -3x and -2x, you add the coefficients:

-5x + (-9 - 8)

Finally, add -9 and -8:

-5x - 17

So, the final simplified expression is -5x - 17.

Regarding your question about how the 2 becomes negative, remember that in math, a subtraction operation can be represented by adding a negative number. So, when you distribute -2 to (x + 4), it is equivalent to subtracting 2 times the value of (x + 4). This is why the 2 becomes negative in the expression.