Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
In the second expression, you perform slightly more involved activities. The
expression contains two like terms,
a
2
and
a
3
. You can group the coefficients of
these terms into expressions that involve addition and subtraction. When you
carry out these operations, you end up with 12 and 3 as coefficients. You then
carry the process a step further by factoring 3 out of the expression.
Exercise Set 4.1
Here are a few problems for factoring. Find the largest common factor or the like terms.
a. 20a þ 4b þ 15c
b. 7a þ 42
c. ab þ a
d. 2a 2b 2b
2
3
1
4
e.
4
a
4
b
f. 9a þ 5a þ 7 þ 3b 2b 3
g. 2
p
c þ
1
p
c 4
h. 15x
5
12x
4
þ 27x
3
3x
2
i. 30x
3
þ 24x
2
j. 7a
6
10a
4
14a
2
Order of Operations
When you work with equations to simplify them, you work in specific ways.
Generally, you perform multiplication and division first, working from left to
right. Then you perform addition and subtraction, working from left to right.
Consider these expressions.
3
3
2
¼
9
2
¼
7
3
3
2
2
2
¼
9
2
4
¼
7
4
¼
3
3
3
2
2
2
¼
9
2
1
¼
7
1
¼
6
If you find the multiplication and division operations and perform those first,
you are usually on safe ground. Still, to make it so that the order of operations is
