How do you combine like terms in $17a - 18b + 18c + 13a + 9b + 5c$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2018-04-18T18:58:56

30a - 9b + 23c

You want to collect the like terms together in the equation, so:

$17a - 18b + 18c + 13a + 9b + 5c$

becomes

$17a + 13a - 18b + 9b + 18c + 5c$

Note that the sign before the term stays with the term (it is always -18b in this case).

Complete the equation:

$17a + 13a = 30a$
$-18b + 9b = -9b$
$18c + 5c = 23c$

Therefore: $30a-9b+23c$

How do you combine like terms in 17a - 18b + 18c + 13a + 9b + 5c17a - 18b + 18c + 13a + 9b + 5c?