Question

Which algebraic expression is equivalent to the expression below?

(3x + 11) + 6x
A.(3x - 6x) + 11
B.(3x + 6x) + 11
C.20x
D.(3x + 11x) + 6

Answer 1

When you're adding and subtracting, the parenthesis are irrelevant. You can exclude them or put them wherever you want. (This is not true for multiplication/division.)

So in the problem we have three values: 3x, 11, 6x. None of the signs are going to change because there's no multiplication.

In theory, we could simplify this into 9x and 11, but the answers don't include a 9x, so we aren't doing that.

Which of the options listed has these exact same values of 3x, 11, 6x? B does.

A is not right because the 6x became negative.
C is not right because there's no possible way to solve for x.
D is not right because 11 does not multiply by x in the original problem, and the equation contains no multiplication.

Answer 2

You can again ignore the parenthesis because you are not distributing anything.
Your equation will look like this

3x + 11 + 6x

You can move each of these numbers around any way you like. You can combine the 3x and the 6x if you want, but they did not do that. You cannot take the x away and put it in front of the 11 though.

B. is your answer. All they did was move the 6x inside the parenthesis and the 11 out of the parenthesis.

Always remember, when you are adding things together, the parenthesis don't matter!