How do you simplify $3x^2(3x^2 - x - 2)$ ?

Question

1449 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2016-12-22T23:08:54

$9x^4 - 3x^3 - 6x^2$

To simplify this expression you need to multiply the term outside the parenthesis ( $color(red)(3x^2)$ ) by each term within the parenthesis:

$(color(red)(3x^2) * 3x^2) - (color(red)(3x^2) * x) - (color(red)(3x^2) * 2)$

$(3 * 3 * x^2 * x^2) - (3 * x^2 * x) - (3 * 2 * x^2)$

We can now use the following rule for exponents to multiply the individual terms:

$color(red)(x^a * x^b = x^(a+b))$

Hint: remember $color(green)(x = x^1)$

$9x^(2 + 2) - 3x^(2 + 1) - 6x^2$

$9x^4 - 3x^3 - 6x^2$

How do you simplify 3x^2(3x^2 - x - 2)3x^2(3x^2 - x - 2)?