Collect like termsNumbers within 20
Name: Date:
Collect the like terms.
17x + 5x + 15
29x + 12 − 6x − 7
33x + 15 − x
412x + 11 − 11x − 7
53 + 2x + 10 + x
65x + 4x + 8
77 + 7x + 5 + x
812x + 6 − 7x
Combining like terms worksheets
Collecting like terms is tidying up: the x parts go together, the plain numbers go together, and nothing else moves. These free printable worksheets ask for the simplified expression, written as a coefficient and a constant.
If they get stuck
Combining like terms
The answer key prints on a separate page.
What's on this sheet
The idea is easier than the notation makes it look. 4x + 3 + 2x + 5 is four x's and two more x's, which is six x's, plus eight. Saying it in words first — "six x's and eight" — is usually enough to unstick a child who is staring at the symbols, because they have been adding six of something to two of something since they were five.
Why this sheet works
What cannot be combined is the part worth insisting on. 6x + 8 does not become 14x, however much a child would like a single answer, because x is not 1. Asking "six whats and eight whats?" makes the mismatch audible.
How this one works
One question from a sheet like this one, worked a step at a time — with a sentence saying what just happened and why.
Combining like terms, step by step