How do you simplify 12a - 3 + 6a?

1 Answer
Nov 7, 2015

3(6a-1)

Explanation:

You can first collect like terms:
12a and 6a are alike, with a behind both of them. So we can add them together:
(12a)+(6a) = 18a
What is left behind is a -3
So the full equation after collecting like terms is: 18a-3
We can factor out a 3 from the new equation by deviding each term by 3.
(18a)/3-3/3
So after factoring we get: 3(6a-1)