Introduction
Intro to Combining Like Terms
Andrew is organizing the supply room in the gym at his school. He finds a bucket with eight tennis balls, three baseballs, and a basketball. He then finds another bucket with two tennis balls, two baseballs, and two basketballs.
Here is a visual representation of these two buckets.
Andrew does not feel that it makes much sense for different types of balls to be in different buckets. He believes each type should be in a bucket with other balls like it. So, he looks for and finds an empty bucket because he knows there are three different types of objects.
How many tennis balls does Andrew have between both buckets?
8 in bucket one + 2 in bucket two = _______blank total tennis balls
Answer: 10 total tennis balls
How many baseball does Andrew have between each bucket?
4 in bucket one + 2 in bucket two = _______blank total baseballs
Answer: 6 total baseballs
How many basketballs does Andrew have between the two buckets?
1 in bucket one + 2 in bucket two = _______blank total basketballs
Answer: 3 total basketballs
When Andrew combines all of these balls in separate buckets, he begins to think that it is a lot like combining like terms, which is learned in his algebra class the previous day.
During this lesson, we will learn which terms of an expression are like terms, as well as how we can combine these like terms.