Simplifying Expressions help??

[Chloe223]

So in school we're learning about simplifying expressions and I thought it'd be easy since I'm really good at simplifying fractions. Although, this whole lesson REALLY confuses me. Sometimes it's really hard to find like terms and exponents really mess me up on the entire thing. I get confused on how to combine like terms to simplify everything and it's just one big headache!

For instance:
7(x - 2) - 2(x - 6)

I don't know how to solve this problem. I just don't feel like the lesson is explained well enough (which makes me feel pretty stupid). I don't know whether to follow order of operations and solve the parenthesis first (which I really can't do considering that there's numbers and variables), or to solve the whole numbers and I'm just stuck.

Can anyone solve this problem and show me the steps, and maybe explain why you did them a little bit so I can solve these problems easier in the future?
Thanks

 

[tkhunny]

(which makes me feel pretty stupid).

Just quit that. Why does it have to be a personal attack?

For instance:
7(x - 2) - 2(x - 6)

You should have properties to help you.

Distributive Property (of multiplication over addition)

7(x - 2) - 2(x - 6) = 7x - 14 - 2x + 12

Stare at each term on the right and see where it came from.