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Adding and Subtracting Algebraic Terms

1) The document discusses adding and subtracting algebraic expressions by combining like terms. 2) Like terms are terms that have the same variables and the same exponents, while unlike terms have different variables or exponents. 3) To simplify expressions, you group like terms together and combine their coefficients by adding or subtracting them.

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Ava-Gaye Robinson
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98 views

Adding and Subtracting Algebraic Terms

1) The document discusses adding and subtracting algebraic expressions by combining like terms. 2) Like terms are terms that have the same variables and the same exponents, while unlike terms have different variables or exponents. 3) To simplify expressions, you group like terms together and combine their coefficients by adding or subtracting them.

Uploaded by

Ava-Gaye Robinson
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GRADE 8 – MATHEMATICS

ALGEBRA – ADDING AND SUBTRACTING ALGEBRAIC EXPRESSIONS

OBJECTIVES
 Differentiate between like and unlike terms
 Group like terms in an algebraic expression
 Simplify algebraic expressions by adding or subtracting like terms

INTRODUCTION
When you learnt addition and subtraction, you may have been taught that you can only combine similar
objects or quantites. For instance, if there are 5 apples in a box and you place 2 more apples in the box, we
can combine/add the quantities to find the total number of apples.

+ =
5 apples + 2 apples = 7 apples
However, if you had 5 apples and added 2 oranges to the box, these two objects cannot be combined because
they are dissimilar.

+ =
5 apples + 2 oranges = 7 apple/oranges
In algebra, the same concept applies. We can only add or subtract like terms. Like terms are terms that have
exactly the same variable and the same exponent but their numerical coefficients may differ. Combining
like terms is a very common technique used to simplify algebraic expressions.

Consider the following list of terms:


2
3𝑥, − 2𝑥, 𝑥: Each terms have a common variable, 𝑥, and are therefore considered as like terms
5

7𝑎2 , 4𝑎, − 𝑎3 : Each term contain the same letter but they are raised to different powers. Hence, these are
unlike terms.

2𝑝𝑞, 12, − 𝑝𝑞, 5: In this list, 2𝑝𝑞 and −𝑝𝑞 are like terms. The constants 12 and 5 are another pair of like
terms.

5𝑎𝑏 2 , 5𝑎2 𝑏, 5𝑎2 𝑏 2 : These terms have the same coefficient but different literal factors as the variables
have different powers. These are therefore classified as unlike terms.
COMBINING LIKE TERMS
When you learnt to add or subtract objects you learnt that, for examples:
o 1 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒 + 1 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒 + 1 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒 + 1 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒 can be written as 4 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠
o 1 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒 + 1 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒 + 1 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒 + 1 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒 is also the same as 4 × (1 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒) = 4 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠
o 2 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 + 2 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 + 2 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 + 2 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 = 4 × (2 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠) = 8 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠
o 5+5+5+5+5+5+5+5=8×5
o 2+2+2+2+2= 5×2

The same principle holds in algebra. Remember that we use a symbol or variable (usually a letter) to denote
an unknown quantity. Here are some examples:

𝑎 + 𝑎 + 𝑎 + 𝑎 + 𝑎 = 5 × 𝑎 = 5𝑎

𝑢 + 𝑢 + 𝑢 = 3 × 𝑢 = 3𝑢

𝑟 2 + 𝑟 2 + 𝑟 2 + 𝑟 2 = 4 × 𝑟 2 = 4𝑟 2

𝑚𝑛 + 𝑚𝑛 = 2 × 𝑚𝑛 = 2𝑚𝑛

3𝑟 + 3𝑟 + 3𝑟 + 3𝑟 = 4 × 3𝑟 = 12𝑟

As you may have observed from the examples above, like terms can be combined by adding their
coefficients. Let us look at some examples:

Example 1: 3𝑥 + 4𝑥 = (3 + 4)𝑥 = 7𝑥

Example 2: 2𝑝2 𝑞 + 5𝑝2 𝑞 − 3𝑝2 𝑞 = (2 + 5 − 3)𝑝2 𝑞 = 4𝑝2 𝑞

When simplifying algebraic expressions that contain more than one variable or more than one set of like
terms, you can rearrange the expression so that all the like terms are written next to each other. This is
known as grouping like terms.

For example, simplify the expressions: 8𝑥 + 5 + 2𝑦 − 3𝑥 − 𝑦 + 2

Solution: This expression contains 3 sets of like terms: (8𝑥 and −3𝑥), (2𝑦 and −𝑦) and (5 and 2). We first
group the like terms then simplify:

8𝑥 + 5 + 2𝑦 − 3𝑥 − 𝑦 + 2
= 8𝑥 − 3𝑥 + 2𝑦 − 𝑦 + 5 + 2
= (8 − 3)𝑥 + (2 − 1)𝑦 + (5 + 2)
= 5𝑥 + 𝑦 + 7
Here are some more examples:
−2𝑎𝑏 + 3𝑎2 𝑏 − 10𝑎2 𝑏 + 5𝑎𝑏
= −2𝑎𝑏 + 5𝑎𝑏 + 3𝑎2 𝑏 − 10𝑎2 𝑏
= (−2 + 5)𝑎𝑏 + (3 − 10)𝑎2 𝑏
= 3𝑎𝑏 − 7𝑎2 𝑏

2.5𝑥𝑦 + 3.25𝑥𝑦 − 1.6𝑥𝑦


= (2.5 + 3.25 − 1.6)𝑥𝑦
= 4.15𝑥𝑦

3 1 1
𝑦+ 𝑦+ 𝑦
4 2 4
3 2 1
= 𝑦+ 𝑦+ 𝑦
4 4 4
3 2 1
= ( + + )𝑦
4 4 4
6
= 𝑦
4
3
= 𝑦
2

12𝑥 2 − 5𝑦 + 3 − 8𝑥 2 + 15𝑦
= 12𝑥 2 − 8𝑥 2 − 5𝑦 + 15𝑦 + 3
= (12 − 8)𝑥 2 + (−5 + 15)𝑦 + 3
= 4𝑥 2 + 10𝑦 + 3

−2𝑥 3 𝑦 2 + 18𝑦 2 𝑥 3 − 𝑦 2 + 2𝑥 3
= (−2 + 18)𝑥 3 𝑦 2 − 𝑦 2 + 2𝑥 3
= 16𝑥 3 𝑦 2 − 𝑦 2 + 2𝑥 3

NOTE: 𝑥 3 𝑦 2 = 𝑦 2 𝑥 3 so −2𝑥 3 𝑦 2 and 18𝑦 2 𝑥 3 are like terms. These two literal factors are the same because
they both expressions represent the product of 𝑥 3 and 𝑦 2 . Like numerical factors, when multiplying
algebraic factors, the order in which you multiply doesn’t matter (multiplication is commutative).

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