Practice Combining Like Terms with Negative Coefficients and Distribution

Site: Saylor Academy
Course: MA007: Algebra
Book: Practice Combining Like Terms with Negative Coefficients and Distribution
Printed by: Guest user
Date: Tuesday, 15 July 2025, 7:37 AM

Description

Practice Problems

  1. Simplify to create an equivalent expression.

\(2(-n-3)-7(5+2n)\)

Choose 1 answer:

  1. \(-16n-37\)
  2. \(-16n-41\)
  3. \(16n-41\)
  4. \(16n+41\)
  1. Simplify to create an equivalent expression.

\(-3z-(-z-2)\)

Choose 1 answer:

  1. \(-4z+2\)
  2. \(-2z-2\)
  3. \(-2z+2\)
  4. \(4z+2\)
  1. Simplify to create an equivalent expression.

\(-3(2+4k) + 7(2k-1)\)

Choose 1 answer:

  1. \(2k-13\)
  2. \(8k-13\)
  3. \(2k+13\)
  4. \(2k-7\)
  1. Simplify to create an equivalent expression.

\(2-4(5p+1)\)

Choose 1 answer:

  1. \(-20p-2\)
  2. \(-5p-4\)
  3. \(-20p+2\)
  4. \(-5p+4\)

Source: Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/x2f8bb11595b61c86:foundation-algebra/x2f8bb11595b61c86:combine-like-terms/e/combining_like_terms_2
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Answers

  1. \(-16n-41\)

  2. \(-2z+2\)

  3. \(2k-13\)

  4. \(-20p-2\)

Hints

  1. The simplified expression is ‍\(-16n -41\).
    • Distribute the 2 to each term inside the first set of parentheses:
    • \(2(-n-3)-7(5+2n) = -2n -6 -7 (5+2n)\)
    • Distribute the -7 to each term inside the second set of parentheses:
    • \(-2n-6-7(5+2n) = -2n -6 -35 -14n\)
    • Rewrite the expression to group the n‍-terms and numeric terms, and then combine like terms:
    • \(-2n-14n-6-35 = -16n -41\)

  2. The simplified expression is ‍\(-2z+2\).
    • The minus sign in front of the parentheses means we multiply each term inside the parentheses by -1:
    • \(-3z-1(-z-2) = -3z+z+2\)
    • Combine the ‍z-terms:
    • \(-3z+z+2 = -2z+2\)

  3. The simplified expression is ‍\(2k-13\).
    • Distribute the -3 to each term inside the first set of parentheses:
    • \(-3(2+4k) + 7(2k-1) = -6-12k + 7(2k-1)\)
    • Distribute the 7 to each term inside the second set of parentheses:
    • \(-6-12k + 7(2k-1) = -6-12k+14k-7\)
    • Rewrite the expression to group the k-terms and numeric terms, and then combine like terms:
    • \(-12k + 14k-6-7 = 2k-13\)

  4. The simplified expression is ‍\(-20p-2\).
    • Distribute the -4 to each term inside the parentheses:
    • \(2-4(5p+1)=2-20p-4\)
    • Combine the numeric terms:
    • \(2-20p-4=-20p-2\)