Simplify by adding and subtracting like terms

curelnew

New member
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
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7
-5(y-6x-z) - (-3)(x-y+2) problem

This is how far I've got:
-5y+30x+5z - -3x+3y-6
Thanks
 
Don't forget the parenthesis

-5y+30x+5z - (-3x+3y-6)

This is fine so far, now distribute the negative to get rid of all parenthesis and combine like terms
 
curelnew said:
-5(y - 6x - z) - (-3)(x - y + 2)

-5y + 30x + 5z - (-3x + 3y - 6) Keep these parentheses in place, until you're ready to subtract.

You properly distributed the factors of -5 and -3.

The red parentheses above show that each of the three terms inside are being subtracted.

In order to remove these parentheses, we need to change the sign on each of the three terms. (If you do not understand why, let us know.)

-5y + 30x + 5z + 3x - 3y + 6

Can you now finish by combing like-terms?
 
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