How can you expand brackets? e.g: (x-4)(x+7)

The answer is of the form ax2+bx+c The a term is found by the product of the coefficients of the x in the brackets. e.g (2x+7)(-4x+6) would give -8x2 . However for this example, we will only use coefficients of 1. The coefficient of the x term (b) will be sum of the numbers after the x (e.g: (6x-4)(4x+3)). For the first bracket the b term is -4 and for the second bracket the b term is +3. The product of these numbers is -1, so this is the coefficient of the x term. The c term in the quadratic is the product of these numbers. Using the previous example, -4 x 3 = -12 so this is the c term. Putting these answers into our quadratic give us x2+3x-28.

ST
Answered by Sam T. Maths tutor

6032 Views

See similar Maths GCSE tutors

Related Maths GCSE answers

All answers ▸

A quarter circle represents a piece of land. The length of the straight sides is 100 ft each. If the land is enclosed by a fence, what is closest to the length, in feet, of the fence?


There are n sweets in a bag. 6 are Orange, the rest are Yellow. Hannah takes a sweet out of the bag, and eats it, she does this twice. The Probability of Hannah eating two orange sweets is 1/3. Show that n^2 - n - 90 =0, and solve to find the value of n.


equation(1) h = 3t^2 a) find h when t=5 b)find t when h=108


Factorise 100-x^2


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning