You have used the Distributive Property to transform numerical expressions such as (5)(3) + (2)(3) to (5 + 2)(3). How would you transform 5x + 2x into a single term? Substitute five different values into the expressions 5x + 2x and 7x - 1. What do you notice about the values of the expressions? Is there any value that would make the two expressions equal? Why or why not? (On Edmentume)

Question

Vocaloid · Answer

From (5)(3) + (2)(3) to (5 + 2)(3), notice how they factored out 3 since both (5)(3) and (2)(3) have 3 as a factor.

So applying this logic to 5x + 2x, notice how both terms have x so you’d factor out x just like they factored out 3 in the previous step.

When it says to substitute five different x values into 5x + 2x and 7x - 1, simply pick five x values (ex, x = 0) and plug them into each equation. You’ll notice a pattern in the resulting values.

HawksDaughet8732 · Answer

@vocaloid wrote:

From (5)(3) + (2)(3) to (5 + 2)(3), notice how they factored out 3 since both (5)(3) and (2)(3) have 3 as a factor. So applying this logic to 5x + 2x, notice how both terms have x so you’d factor out x just like they factored out 3 in the previous step. When it says to substitute five different x values into 5x + 2x and 7x - 1, simply pick five x values (ex, x = 0) and plug them into each equation. You’ll notice a pattern in the resulting values.

Thank you! :)