Mathematics
Grade6
Easy
Question
Simplify by combining like terms: 10a + 4b – 4a + 5
- 6a + 4b + 5
- 10a + 4b + 5
- 4a + 4b + 5
- 4b + 5
Hint:
This is an algebraic expression. An algebraic expression consists of two components: a variable and a constant. A variable is a quantity that doesn’t have any fixed value. It takes value according to the conditions. It is denoted by the alphabet. A constant is a quantity with a fixed value. In this question, we are given an expression. We have to combine the like terms and simply the expression.
The correct answer is: 6a + 4b + 5
The given expression is 10a + 4b - 4a + 5
There are two variables in the above expression. The variables are : ‘a’ and ‘b’. There are four terms in the above expression. We have to perform the operations between them and simplify the expression.
If we see, first and third term contains the same variable. Such terms are called “like terms.” And the terms with different variables are called “unlike terms.
The second term has a different variable.
The fourth term is constant.
For like terms, we can perform the operations between their coefficients by keeping the variable constant. It means we can treat each term as a constant and perform operations like normal operations on constants.
For the above expression, we can perform an operation between the first term and third term as both the terms as they have the same variable ‘a’. We will keep ‘a’constant and perform addition between the coefficients.
We will rearrange the expression to bring like terms together
10a + 4b – 4a + 5 = (10a – 4a) + 4b + 5
Now we can subtract second term from first.
10a + 4b – 4a + 5 = 6a + 4b + 5
No further operation is possible as all are unlike terms.
Therefore, the value of the equation is 6a + 4b + 5.
We should know different properties for such questions. We should also know about like terms and unlike terms.
