Math Homework Problem

[college kid]

(2x-1)² =

Shouldn't you mulitply everything so that the answer will be 4x²-1?

I'm a little rusty on my albebra, so I might be posting a few more questions.

Thanks.

 

[mmm4444bot]

It's difficult to comment, when people post partial exercises. What do the instructions that come with this expression say?

If there are no instructions, then, yes, I would say that you need to multiply (2x-1) times (2x-1).

This product is not 4x^2 - 1.

It seems like you need to review the Distributive Property.

The expression 2x-1 is a binomial (that is, a polynomial containing two terms).

There is an algorithm for multiplying two binomials together; it's called FOIL. Does that rings any bells?

Here is a symbolic representation of FOIL:

(a + b)(c + d) = ac + ad + bc + bd

Specific questions? Work to show?

Kindly read our posting guidelines, too. Cheers :cool:

 

[college kid]

It's difficult to comment, when people post partial exercises. What do the instructions that come with this expression say?

If there are no instructions, then, yes, I would say that you need to multiply (2x-1) times (2x-1).

This product is not 4x^2 - 1.

It seems like you need to review the Distributive Property.

The expression 2x-1 is a binomial (that is, a polynomial containing two terms).

There is an algorithm for multiplying two binomials together; it's called FOIL. Does that rings any bells?

Here is a symbolic representation of FOIL:

(a + b)(c + d) = ac + ad + bc + bd

Specific questions? Work to show?

Kindly read our posting guidelines, too. Cheers :cool:

Sorry, this particular problem didn't have any instructions. Thanks for posting what you posted. This has reminded me of a lot. I should be able to solve this problem now.