How do you simplify #(x - 4)(x + 8)#?

2 Answers
Apr 7, 2018

#x^2+4x-32#

Explanation:

We can use the highly useful mnemonic FOIL, which says we multiply the first, outside, inside and last terms, and add the result. This is essentially doing the distributive property twice. We get:

  • First terms: #x*x=x^2#
  • Outside terms: #x*8=8x#
  • Inside terms: #-4*x=-4x#
  • Last terms: #-4*8=-32#

Thus ,we have:

#x^2+8x-4x-32#

Which simplifies to

#x^2+4x-32#

Hope this helps!

Apr 7, 2018

#(x-4)(x+8)# can be simplified to #x^2+4x-32#.

Explanation:

Using the distributive property, when you multiply two polynomials together, you have to multiply each term of the first polynomial with the entire second polynomial.

#(x-4)(x+8)#
#=x(x+8)-4(x+8)#
#=x^2+8x-4x-32#
#=x^2+4x-32#