In Math, like English, there is a desire to reach for simplicity and elegance when making statements.
Be as clear and short as possible to be effective.
Math expressions should be simplified, and one way to do this is to combine like terms, for example, we can realized that
2x + 3x + 2x + 10x = 27x , and it would be much better to write the shorter 27x
However
2x + 3y + 2x + 10y = 4x + 13y and that is as simple as we can get, because not all terms are like. That is to say, y is different from x and cannot be combined.
In the case of parenthesis expressions can be greatly simplified
2(2x + 4y) + 5(10x + 20y)
=
4x + 8y + 50x + 100y
=
54x + 108y
much simpler.
The ability to simplify expressions should not be underestimated. Math is used to model and describe real world problems, and its ability to be simplified allows us to draw insights from the world that would otherwise be obscured in complication.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment