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2 votes
Which describes 4x and −7x

in this expression?

4x−5−7x

A. constant term

B. like terms

C. multiplication

D. simplify

1 Answer

5 votes

Answer: B) like terms

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Reason:

The 4x and -7x are like terms because they involve the same variable x. This allows us to combine the like terms to end up with -3x

4x-7x = -3x

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Another example of like terms is 2x and 5x.

Adding them gets us 2x+5x = 7x

We can think of it like saying "2 boxes + 5 boxes = 7 boxes". Replace each word "boxes" with the single letter "x" and we arrive at 2x+5x = 7x.

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