Simplify Questions

Do you feel lost when it comes to Maths problems? If that's the case, simplification questions happen to be your best friend. Join us as we walk you through this problem-solving technique, giving an example of how they work and how they can help simplify Maths examples that are difficult concepts to solve!

Simplification questions can be useful because they help you to solve more complicated problems with ease. Simplification questions are asked in Maths to help the learner simplify a concept. They can be used to help in getting rid of complications. You are simplifying so they can understand the reasoning behind the question.

What are Simplification Questions?

The word simplification refers to any process of making something as easy as possible. Simplification questions are questions that can simplify Maths examples, like the one below:

Example: Simplify $4(10+15\div\,5\times 4-2\times 2)$

Ans: The answer is: $72$

Simplify the Question

The basic idea behind simplifying is that you want to transform your number or expression into its simplest form by reducing the numerical value and getting rid of the signs.

What is the Simplification Formula?

BODMAS: This is an acronym for a set of steps that you should follow when answering a question, which are: Bracket, Order, Division, Multiplication, Addition, and Subtraction. The objective is to reduce the number as much as possible without causing problems with addition or subtraction.

• B: Brackets

• O: Operation

• D: Division

• M: Multiplication

• A: Addition

• S: Subtraction

BODMAS

How Do You Solve Simplification Questions?

To solve simplification problems, you must understand the process behind simplifying.

• Step 1: Check for the operations that are equal to each other.

Example: Simplify (a+bc)+(b-d)(a-c)(d+b)-2, using the BODMAS simplification formula.

• Step 2: Check for similar operations of the operands. Example: Simplify (ab+cd)(ab-bc)(a-b)+(c-d).

• Step 3: If operations are not equal or similar, simplify the one on the right of the equal sign first.

• Step 4: Add together (or multiply) all terms using the same or similar operations. Example: Simplify x(x+3)+(x-9)

• Step 5: Include any brackets with numbers that have been added together (or multiplied).

How Do You Simplify a Fraction?

You can combine the numerator and the denominator by adding, subtracting, or multiplying them together.

• For example, one of the simplification questions with solutions is, $\dfrac{12}{6}$ simplifies to $\dfrac{2}{3}$ by adding 6+12 to get 18 and $\dfrac{18}{3}$=6.

• For example, 5x4=20 becomes $\dfrac{20}{10}$= 2 so 5x4 = 20 or 2x5 = 10.

The new number is now divided into 10 parts instead of four parts to get your final answer of two.

How to Simplify Decimals?

If a number is in decimals, you would have to convert it into fractions before simplifying. The simplest form of converting $\dfrac{2}{3}$ into a decimal which is 0.66 or to a fraction with one unit, $\dfrac{6}{1}$=6 becomes the answer.

If it were in fractions, then your number would be easier than doing the multiplication. So try converting them into fractions first, and then simplify while solving simplification problems.

Solved Examples

Q1 Simplify: 37 - [5 + {28 - (19 - 7)}]

Ans: 37 - [5 + {28 - (19 - 7)}]

= 37 - [5 + {28 - 12}] (Removing the innermost bracket ( ))

= 37 - [5 + 16]

= 37 - 21

= 16.

Q2 Simplify: 78 - [24 - {16 (5 - 4 - 1)}]

Ans:-78 - [24 - {16 (5 – 4 - 1)}]

= 78 - [24 - {16(5 - 5)}] (Removing vinculum)

= 78 -[24 - {16 (0)}] (Removing parentheses)

= 78 - [24 – 0] (Removing braces)

= 78 - 24

= 54

Q3. Simplify. $\dfrac{1}{3}+\left[\dfrac{1}{2}-\left\{\dfrac{1}{5}+\left(\dfrac{1}{3}-\dfrac{1}{5}\right)\right\}\right]$

Ans: $\dfrac{1}{3}+\left[\dfrac{1}{2}-\left\{\dfrac{1}{5}+\left(\dfrac{1}{3}-\dfrac{1}{5}\right)\right\}\right]$

$=\dfrac{1}{3}+\dfrac{1}{6}$

$= \dfrac{2+1}{6}$

$=\dfrac{1}{2}$

Practice Questions

Q1. 3 - (5 – 6 ÷ 3)

Ans: 0

Q2. – 25 + 14 ÷ (5 - 3)

Ans: -18

Q3. 25-{5+4-(3+2-1+3)}

Ans: 23

Q4. 27 - [38 - {46 - (15 - 13 - 2)}]

Ans: 35

Q5 36 - [18 - {14 - (15 – 4 ÷ 2 x 2)}]

Ans: 21

Summary

We've covered a lot of different strategies for simplification questions in this article. We've focused on the BODMAS method, which is a helpful way to simplify original equations, and learned to simplify equations by cancelling out factors.

In our opinion, it is one of the ways to learn maths quickly, because you can use this rule over and over again. At first, you do not understand what it truly means, but as you keep applying it in real-life situations and play games, you begin to grasp the meaning of how many even numbers there are in a set of numbers.