Question

How do you write `y=(x-4)(x-2)`?

Answer 1

To multiply these two terms and put this equation into standard form you multiply each individual term in the left parenthesis by each individual term in the right parenthesis.

`y = (color(red)(x) - color(red)(4))(color(blue)(x) - color(blue)(2))` becomes:

`y = (color(red)(x) xx color(blue)(x)) - (color(red)(x) xx color(blue)(2)) - (color(red)(4) xx color(blue)(x)) + (color(red)(4) xx color(blue)(2))`

`y = x^2 - 2x - 4x + 8`

We can now combine like terms:

`y = x^2 + (-2 - 4)x + 8`

`y = x^2 - 6x + 8`