Cancel

Cancel refers to an operation used in term mathematics to remove terms from an expression leaving it in a simpler form. For example, in the fraction 6/8, the factor 2 can be removed from both the numerator and the denominator leaving the irreducible fraction 3/4. In this instance the 2 is said to be canceled out of the expression. Canceling is particularly useful for solving algebraic equations. The solution to the equation x - 7 = 4 is obtained by adding 7 to each side of the equation resulting in x = 11. When we add 7 to the left side of the equation, we cancel the -7 and put the equation in a simpler form. Typically, canceling is performed by using inverse operations. These are operations such as multiplication and division or addition and subtraction which "undo" one another.