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)#