Question

perform the indicated operation by removing the parentheses and combining like terms.

((-3x - 9) - (7x + 3))

answer

Explanation:

Identify the given expression

We are given the polynomial subtraction problem:

$$ (-3x - 9) - (7x + 3) $$

Our goal is to subtract the second polynomial from the first.

Distribute the negative sign

To remove the parentheses, we apply the Polynomial Subtraction concept. We distribute the negative sign to each term inside the second set of parentheses:

$$ -1 \cdot (7x + 3) = -7x - 3 $$

The first expression remains unchanged:

$$ -3x - 9 - 7x - 3 $$

Group the like terms

Next, we group the variable terms and the constant terms together using Polynomial Simplification:

$$ (-3x - 7x) + (-9 - 3) $$

Combine the like terms

Now, we simplify each group by combining the coefficients:

$$ (-3 - 7)x + (-9 - 3) $$

$$ -10x - 12 $$

Answer:

Perform the indicated operation by removing the parentheses and combining like terms.

$$ (-3x - 9) - (7x + 3) = $$

<blank>\(-10x - 12\)</blank>