There are two kinds of like terms:
• Variable like terms: These are the terms that have the same variable. For example, 10x and -3x are like terms.
,• Independent like terms: are the terms that don't have any variables. For example, 7 and -30 are like terms.
The important thing about like terms is that we can combine them.
The expression we have is:
[tex]16+8a-3a+6b-9[/tex]The terms 8a and -3a are variable like terms because they have the same variable "a", so we combine them by subtracting 8a-3a which results in 5a:
[tex]16+5a+6b-9[/tex]The term 6b does not have any like term because there are no other terms that contain the variable "b", so we leave that term as is.
Now, the terms 16 and -9 are independent like terms, so we can also combine them.
To combine 16 and -9, we subtract 16-9, and the result is7, so we put 7 in the expression in the place of 16-9:
[tex]5a+6b+7[/tex]Answer:
5a+6b+7