SOLUTION: Imagine a young person (middle school age) was taking an algebra course and asked for your help. How would you teach the multiplication of polynomials to them?

Question 819890: Imagine a young person (middle school age) was taking an algebra course and asked for your help. How would you teach the multiplication of polynomials to them?
Answer by josgarithmetic(39620) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Show the Distributive Property, explain and demonstrate it, using known constant numbers (values) and using variable numbers (which are terms of the polynomials). I would later include demonstrating how to perform multiplication using the terms of each polynomial in a lattice formation, which is essentially what is taught in elementary school as "long-hand multiplication". This lattice formation can make identifying like-terms easier to do.
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