Question

What order should you simplify like terms in? E.g. 5" id="TexFormula1" title="16-4\sqrt{5} -4\sqrt{5} +5" alt="16-4\sqrt{5} -4\sqrt{5} +5" align="absmiddle" class="latex-formula"> A video said to Simplify the numbers first as they will be positive?
But in $6+3\sqrt{5} +2\sqrt{5}+5$ You simplify the surds first.

Answer 1

Answer:

It does not matter, since, from your second case, $5\sqrt5 +11 = 11+5\sqrt5$.

In general is a matter of personal preference but in general I like to start with a positive number (I like $\sqrt2 -1$ more than $-1+\sqrt2$ since if there's an equal sign before I'm guaranteed to have the two signs mesh together in a few steps).

If everything you are adding together is positive, I just go first come first served and pick a new term in order it appears in the previous passage.