Question

How do you simplify `(3x - 5) ( 5x - 17)`?

Answer 1

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

To multiply these two terms you multiply each individual term in the left parenthesis by each individual term in the right parenthesis.

`(color(red)(3x) - color(red)(5))(color(blue)(5x) - color(blue)(17))` becomes:

`(color(red)(3x) xx color(blue)(5x)) - (color(red)(3x) xx color(blue)(17)) - (color(red)(5) xx color(blue)(5x)) + (color(red)(5) xx color(blue)(17))`

`15x^2 - 51x - 25x + 85`

We can now combine like terms:

`15x^2 + (-51 - 25)x + 85`

`15x^2 + (-76)x + 85`

`15x^2 - 76x + 85`