Combining Like Terms

Good morning, students!  Today, you will be practicing how to combine like terms.

Vocabulary you need to know:

constant: any number (ex: 3, 5, 7, 3.14, 1/2, etc...)

variable: any letter (x, y, m, z, etc...)

coefficient: the number in front of a variable in a term (5x, 6y, 14c, etc...)

term: a number times a letter (3x, -5y, 1/2z, etc...)

LIKE TERMS are terms that have the same variable raised to the same power (same exponent).

Example 1:

7x

x

-2x

These are all like terms because the variables are all x

Example 2:

(1/3)xy2

-2xy2

6xy2

These are all like terms because the variables are all xy²

Read through this tutorial FIRST:

http://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/like-terms.html

Then, play these game to practice finding like terms:

Like Terms Quartet (use the up, down, left, right arrows)

http://themathgames.com/our-games/like-terms-games/combine-like-terms-game

Like Terms Invaders

http://www.xpmath.com/forums/arcade.php?do=play&gameid=92#.UZpLiSvF3Ii

Good luck!

HOMEWORK: 
Combining Like Terms Worksheet #1 - 20 (ALL)
                                                            #21 - 30 (optional)