Expert: Abe Mantell - 8/31/2010

Question
Hi, I am trying to help my daughter with her math homework and I am rusty.  She needs to simplify m+m...easy one would think, but I have tried to look all over the internet for help and haven't found it yet.  I thought it would be M squared, but that would turn it into multiplication.  Can u help?

Answer
Hello Stephanie,

m+m=2m, because m can be represented as 1m
so 1m + 1m is (1+1)m=2m, i.e. we just add the coefficients
of the variables (coefficients are the multipliers of the
variables).  Another way to explain it to her is..."If we
have one 'm' and another 'm' then how many m's do we have?"
2 m's of course, which we write as 2m.

Doesn't your daughter have a text book that explains the
algebra and shows examples?

TTYL, Abe