Question

How do you combine like terms in `(5a + 3b ) - ( 6a + 9b )`?

Answer 1

First, you have to distribute the negative sign to `(6a+9b)`

Explanation:

Then you end up with:
`(5a+3b)+(-6a-9b)`

Now you can ignore the parenthesis:
`5a+3b-6a-9b`
*remember adding a negative number is the same as subtracting

Then you can change the order:
`5a-6a +3b-9b`

Finally:
`-1a-6b`

Hope this helps :)