how do I work out problems such as
3w - 10w?
13w
-7w
-7
7w
Think of a number line. Go back 10 spaces from 3w lands you on -7w.
To work out the expression 3w - 10w, you need to combine like terms, which means combining the terms that have the same variable raised to the same power.
In this case, the terms 3w and 10w both have the variable 'w' raised to the first power.
To subtract them, you subtract the coefficients (the numbers in front of the variables) while keeping the variable the same.
So, the calculation would be:
3w - 10w = (3 - 10)w = -7w
Therefore, the answer is -7w.