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5 votes
Why does: 5x+3x+2x = 10x and not 10xxx?

User MandyK
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2 Answers

4 votes
because you are not adding the x's .When you add the coefficients, the variable comes along with it.
User Puzzle
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8.5k points
4 votes
because you are adding an amount of the same variable. They are like terms so you would combine them. If it was 10xxx it would be 10+3x. But, 5x+3x+2x is 10 because 3x+2x is 5 and 5x+5x is 10x. You do not add the actual x's together, just the amount that is shown.
Think of it as this way:
5x = x x x x x
3x = x x x
2x = x x
in total, there are 10 x's
User DjWann
by
8.0k points

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