Remove Brackets from Algebraic Expression

Definition & Explanation

Removing brackets from an algebraic expression involves simplifying the expression by applying the distributive property and combining like terms. Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Identify Expressions Inside Brackets: Identify all expressions enclosed within brackets in the algebraic expression.
  2. Apply Distributive Property: Apply the distributive property to each expression inside the brackets. This involves multiplying each term inside the brackets by the term(s) outside the brackets.
  3. Combine Like Terms: After distributing, combine like terms to simplify the expression further.
  4. Remove Brackets: Remove the brackets from the expression after simplifying the terms.
  5. Optional: If the expression contains multiple sets of brackets, repeat steps 1 to 4 until all brackets are removed and the expression is simplified.
  6. Output: Output the simplified algebraic expression without brackets.

Original expression: 2 * (3x + 5) – (x – 2)

Step 1: Identify expressions inside brackets: (3x + 5), (x – 2)

Step 2: Apply distributive property:

  • 2 * (3x + 5) becomes 6x + 10
  • -(x – 2) becomes -x + 2

Step 3: Combine like terms:

  • 6x + 10 – (x – 2) becomes 6x + 10 – x + 2

Step 4: Remove brackets:

  • 6x + 10 – x + 2 becomes 6x – x + 10 + 2

Step 5: Combine like terms:

  • 6x – x + 10 + 2 becomes 5x + 12

Final expression without brackets: 5x + 12

Program Logic

  1. Start with the original algebraic expression.
  2. Identify and extract each expression enclosed within brackets.
  3. For each extracted expression:
    • Apply the distributive property if necessary by multiplying each term inside the brackets by the term(s) outside the brackets.
    • Combine like terms within the expression.
  4. Replace the original expression with the simplified expression obtained after removing the brackets.
  5. Repeat steps 2-4 until all brackets are removed from the expression.
  6. Output the simplified algebraic expression without brackets.
C

Method 1 :

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

// Function to remove brackets from algebraic expression
char* removeBrackets(char *expression) {
    char *result = (char *)malloc(strlen(expression) + 1);
    strcpy(result, expression);

    // Loop until no more brackets are found
    while (1) {
        int i, j, k;
        int found = 0;

        // Search for opening bracket
        for (i = 0; result[i] != '\0'; i++) {
            if (result[i] == '(') {
                found = 1;
                break;
            }
        }

        // If no more brackets found, break the loop
        if (!found) break;

        // Search for closing bracket
        for (j = i + 1; result[j] != ')'; j++) {
            if (result[j] == '\0') return "Invalid expression";
        }

        // Extract the expression inside the brackets
        char *extracted = (char *)malloc(j - i);
        strncpy(extracted, result + i + 1, j - i - 1);
        extracted[j - i - 1] = '\0';

        // Apply distributive property if necessary
        // (implementation of this step is omitted for simplicity)

        // Combine like terms within the expression
        // (implementation of this step is omitted for simplicity)

        // Replace the original expression with the simplified expression
        for (k = i; k <= j; k++) {
            result[k] = extracted[k - i];
        }
    }

    return result;
}

int main() {
    char expression[] = "2 * (3x + 5) - (x - 2)";
    char *simplified = removeBrackets(expression);
    printf("Simplified expression: %s\n", simplified);
    free(simplified);
    return 0;
}

Output :

C++

Method 1 :

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

// Function to remove brackets from algebraic expression
string removeBrackets(string expression) {
    // Loop until no more brackets are found
    while (true) {
        int i = 0, j = 0;
        bool found = false;

        // Search for opening bracket
        for (i = 0; i < expression.length(); i++) {
            if (expression[i] == '(') {
                found = true;
                break;
            }
        }

        // If no more brackets found, break the loop
        if (!found) break;

        // Search for closing bracket
        for (j = i + 1; j < expression.length(); j++) {
            if (expression[j] == ')') break;
        }

        // Extract the expression inside the brackets
        string extracted = expression.substr(i + 1, j - i - 1);

        // Apply distributive property if necessary
        // (implementation of this step is omitted for simplicity)

        // Combine like terms within the expression
        // (implementation of this step is omitted for simplicity)

        // Replace the original expression with the simplified expression
        expression.replace(i, j - i + 1, extracted);
    }

    return expression;
}

int main() {
    string expression = "2 * (3x + 5) - (x - 2)";
    string simplified = removeBrackets(expression);
    cout << "Simplified expression: " << simplified << endl;
    return 0;
}

Output :

JAVA

Method 1 :

import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;

public class RemoveBrackets {
    // Function to remove brackets from algebraic expression
    public static String removeBrackets(String expression) {
        // Loop until no more brackets are found
        while (true) {
            int i = 0, j = 0;
            boolean found = false;

            // Search for opening bracket
            for (i = 0; i < expression.length(); i++) {
                if (expression.charAt(i) == '(') {
                    found = true;
                    break;
                }
            }

            // If no more brackets found, break the loop
            if (!found) break;

            // Search for closing bracket
            for (j = i + 1; j < expression.length(); j++) {
                if (expression.charAt(j) == ')') break;
            }

            // Extract the expression inside the brackets
            String extracted = expression.substring(i + 1, j);

            // Apply distributive property if necessary
            // (implementation of this step is omitted for simplicity)

            // Combine like terms within the expression
            // (implementation of this step is omitted for simplicity)

            // Replace the original expression with the simplified expression
            expression = expression.substring(0, i) + extracted + expression.substring(j + 1);
        }

        return expression;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String expression = "2 * (3x + 5) - (x - 2)";
        String simplified = removeBrackets(expression);
        System.out.println("Simplified expression: "

Output :

Python

Method 1 :

def remove_brackets(expression):
    # Loop until no more brackets are found
    while '(' in expression:
        # Find the index of the first opening bracket
        opening_index = expression.find('(')
        
        # Find the index of the corresponding closing bracket
        closing_index = expression.find(')', opening_index)
        
        # Extract the expression inside the brackets
        extracted = expression[opening_index + 1 : closing_index]
        
        # Apply any necessary operations to the extracted expression
        # (implementation of this step is omitted for simplicity)
        
        # Replace the original expression with the simplified expression
        expression = expression[:opening_index] + extracted + expression[closing_index + 1:]

    return expression

# Test the function
expression = "2 * (3x + 5) - (x - 2)"
simplified_expression = remove_brackets(expression)
print("Simplified expression:", simplified_expression)

Output :