Answer:
Step-by-step explanation:
A) Use the distributive property to eliminate parentheses. Then combine like terms. (The only "like terms" are the constants.)
... = 12 +3·2y +3·(-3) . . . use the distributive property to multiply each term in parentheses by the factor 3 outside those parentheses
... = 12 +6y -9 . . . . . . . . simplify
... = 6y + (12 -9) . . . . . . group like terms together
... = 6y + 3 . . . . . . . . . . simplify
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B) Look for factors of each term that are also found in the other term.
... 18b has factors 3×6×b
... 12 has factors 2×6
The only common factor is 6, so we factor that out using the distributive property.
... 18b -12 = 6(3b -2)
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Comment on factoring
For factoring problems, it helps immensely if you know your times tables and some of the rules for divisibility. (Even numbers are divisible by 2, numbers ending in 0 or 5 are divisible by 5, numbers whose sum of digits is divisible by 3 are divisible by 3, for example.)
