ANSWER -
Combining like terms means adding or subtracting terms that have the same variable.
In this expression, 5n and 2n both have the variable n, so they are like terms.
We can combine them by adding their coefficients (the numbers in front of the variable):
5n + 2n = 7n
So, our expression becomes:
7n + 8 - 1
Finally, we can simplify the constant terms (the terms without variables) by adding or subtracting them:
7n + 8 - 1 = 7n + 7
So, the final expression is:
7n + 7