Expand and simplify 3(m + 4) – 2(4m + 1)

The first thing that we are going to do to tackle this problem is to expand the bracket on the left-hand side (3(m+4)). To do this you have to multiply each of the terms inside the bracket with the 3 that is outside the bracket. So first, 3xm gives us 3m and 3x4 gives us 12. We can write this down on the line underneath. Then let's look at the second bracket. In the same way as before we are going to multiply out the terms inside the bracket by the -2. So we have -2x4m which gives us -8m and -2 x 1 which is -2. 

So now on our next line, we should have written: 3m + 12 -8m -2. 

Finally, we are going to collect like terms- putting the m's together. So we have to calculate 3m-8m and +12-2. This gives us -5m -10, which is the answer.