Can anybody tell me how to write this expression in simplest form.

Question: You and your friends order food from a menu where each item costs the same amount. Write an expression in the simplest form that represents the total amount of money the order will cost.

As each item costs the same the let the amount of the food be X.
There is a total of 16 items (4+1+5+2+4)

Therefore the expression to find the total is 16*X which can be simply written as 16X (means the same).

Total cost of food= 16X

This is the simplest form as it could have been written as:
Total cost of food= 4X+1X+5X+2X+4X
which in the end (added together) is 16X.