# What's the English term for this algebra operation?

I didn't study maths in English so apologies for this trivial question.

How do you say in English when you have a formula 3n + 3 and you want someone to convert it into 3(n+1) I only know about "rearrange" but that's usually about equality, like U=I*R can be rearranged to U/I = R etc. Isn't there a more explicit word for this?

For example if I expect 4a - 4b to be the final result from 2a - 4b + 2a and someone also does this 4(a - b), what would I say?

Replace the end of sentences (those are my guesses):
"I want you to just add polynomials, you didn't have to <segregate the 4>?"
"I want you to just add polynomials, don't worry about <inverse of redistribution>?"

• "Factorize", perhaps? – player3236 Nov 14 '20 at 9:26
• The word you are looking for is "factorise" (British English) or "factorize" (US English) – tomi Nov 14 '20 at 9:31
• so will it be "you didn't have to factorise the 4"? and "dont worry about factorisation?" – Daniel Katz Nov 14 '20 at 9:34
• "don't worry about the factorising" and "you didn't have to take 4 out as a factor" – tomi Nov 14 '20 at 10:28
• Please use MathJax to format math on this site. – g.kov Nov 14 '20 at 14:10

1. The operation $$ab + ac = a(b+c)$$ is often called " factoring out the common factor ", where the common factor is $$a$$ here.
1. The operation $$a(b+c) = ab + ac$$ is often called " expanding the brackets ".