Question

Ok so i am terrible at simplifying. Can someone break this question down and explain it to me?
Simplify 5x + 2(x - 3) = -2(x - 1)

Answer 1

first, 2 (x-3) means 2 times every thing inside the parens. think of the parens as a "package" and you have two of them. then you have 2 of what ever is inside.

that means 2(x-3) means you have 2 x's and 2 -3's or
2 * x + 2*-3

Answer 2

5x + 2(x - 1 - 2) = -2(x - 1)
5x + 2(x - 1) - 4 = -2(x - 1)
5x + 2(x - 1) + 2(x - 1) - 4 = 0
5x + 4(x - 1) - 4 = 0
5x + 4x - 4 = 4
5x + 4x = 4 + 4
(5 + 4)x = 8
9x = 8
x = 8/9

Answer 3

You won't be able to understand how to simplify algebraic expressions until you master the distributive rule:

a(b + c) = ab + ac