Algebra - Expanding

"Expanding" means removing the ( ) ... but you have to do it the right way!

( ) are called "parentheses" or "brackets"

 

In Algebra

In Algebra putting two things next to each other usually means to multiply.

So 3(a+b) means to multiply 3 by (a+b)

Here is an examle of expanding, using variables a, b and c instead of numbers:

And here is another example involving some numbers. Notice that I use a "·" between the 3 and 6 to mean multiply, so 3·6 = 18:

You will often need to multiply negatives (a negative times a positive gives a negative, but multiplying two negatives gives a positive):

In that case -3 · -5 = +15 (a positive answer), but here is another example where the second part is negative:

So the second term ended up negative because 2x · -a = -2ax, (I also thought it neater to write "-2ax" rather than "-2xa").

That was also interesting because I had to handle x being squared (x²)

Lastly, we have an example with three terms inside:

The same rule applies: multiply by everything inside the ().

And here is a hint: if a multiplication is obvious (like a · 2) do it straight away, but if it needs more thought (like a · -b) leave it for the next line.

Conclusion

Multiply by everything inside the ()

Do it in two stages:

• Write down the multiplications
• Then do the multiplications