Use the distributive property to simplify the expression:

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Applying the distributive property means you multiply the term outside the parentheses by each term inside. For your expression, you would calculate:

This simplifies to:

So, the simplified expression is !

To double-check, if you plug back into the expression, you can see how it behaves, and this helps reinforce the concept by establishing a practical understanding of how variables and coefficients interact in linear expressions, especially when preparing for more complex equations!