How do you simplify 1/2[6-4^2]?

1 Answer
Jul 3, 2016

-5

Explanation:

The first step is always to count the number of terms.
There must be a final answer for each term before they can be added or subtracted.

This is only one term, but there are 2 terms inside the parentheses.

1/2[ 6 - color(red)(4^2)] = 1/2[6-color(red)16]

=1/2[-10] = -5

Or using the distributive law, we can get two terms at the beginning:

1/2xx6 - 1/2 xx 4^2

= 3 - 1/2 xx 16

=3 -8 = -5