2

I didn't study maths in English so apologies for this trivial question.

How do you say in English when you have a formula 3n + 3 and you want someone to convert it into 3(n+1) I only know about "rearrange" but that's usually about equality, like U=I*R can be rearranged to U/I = R etc. Isn't there a more explicit word for this?

For example if I expect 4a - 4b to be the final result from 2a - 4b + 2a and someone also does this 4(a - b), what would I say?

Replace the end of sentences (those are my guesses):
"I want you to just add polynomials, you didn't have to <segregate the 4>?"
"I want you to just add polynomials, don't worry about <inverse of redistribution>?"

Daniel Katz
  • 123

1 Answers1

3
  1. The operation $$ab + ac = a(b+c)$$ is often called " factoring out the common factor ", where the common factor is $a$ here.
  • " I wanted you to add polynomials, you didn't have to factor out 4 "
  • " I wanted you to add polynomials, don't worry about factoring out the common factor "
  1. The operation $$a(b+c) = ab + ac$$ is often called " expanding the brackets ".
  • " If your answer is already factorized, do not expand the brackets "
VIVID
  • 11,604