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Exercises Expressions, exponents and radicals

Example 6 from Algebra and Trigonometry, 1.4 Polynomials

Expanding Perfect Squares

Expand ${(3 x - 8)}^{2} .$

Work it out on paper first. Then open the solution one step at a time, and stop as soon as you can finish on your own.

Solution
Begin by squaring the first term and the last term. For the middle term of the trinomial, double the product of the two terms.

${(3 x)}^{2} - 2 (3 x) (8) + {(−8)}^{2}$
Simplify.
$9 x^{2} - 48 x + 64.$

Your turn

The book's Try It right after this example: same idea, new numbers. Only the answer is given.

Expand ${(4 x - 1)}^{2} .$

How did it go?

PreviousUsing FOIL to Multiply Binomials Next Multiplying Binomials Resulting in a Difference of Squares

From Algebra and Trigonometry (1st edition) by OpenStax (Rice University), section 1.4, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Original at openstax.org. We split the solution into steps; the words, numbers and figures are the book's. OpenStax doesn't endorse this site.