Answer:
Step-by-step explanation:
A) Use the distributive property to eliminate parentheses. Then combine like terms. (The only "like terms" are the constants.)
... = 12 +3·2y +3·(-3) . . . use the distributive property to multiply each term in parentheses by the factor 3 outside those parentheses
... = 12 +6y -9 . . . . . . . . simplify
... = 6y + (12 -9) . . . . . . group like terms together
... = 6y + 3 . . . . . . . . . . simplify
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B) Look for factors of each term that are also found in the other term.
... 18b has factors 3×6×b
... 12 has factors 2×6
The only common factor is 6, so we factor that out using the distributive property.
... 18b -12 = 6(3b -2)
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<em>Comment on factoring</em>
For factoring problems, it helps immensely if you know your times tables and some of the rules for divisibility. (Even numbers are divisible by 2, numbers ending in 0 or 5 are divisible by 5, numbers whose sum of digits is divisible by 3 are divisible by 3, for example.)
