document.write( "Question 1086998: (3a+4)(2a-1) \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #701264 by math_helper(2461) $\"\"$ $\"About$

You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Distribute (3a+4) through the (2a-1):
\n" ); document.write( "

\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "—
\n" ); document.write( "Other tutors have chastised me for not mentioning F.O.I.L. (on a different website), so here it is: F.O.I.L. stands for First, Outer, Inner, Last and is supposed to help you remember the terms to multiply when multiplying two binomials:
\n" ); document.write( "

\r\n" );
document.write( "\r\n" );
document.write( "               F   O   I   L\r\n" );
document.write( "

\n" ); document.write( "I am NOT a big fan of memorization tricks and so I don't find F.O.I.L. to be valuable. For example, when it comes to trinomials, F.O.I.L. does not have any value. As an alternative, I just think \"every term in one polynomial needs to be multiplied by every term in the other,\" and that works for all cases. \r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "—
\n" ); document.write( "A 3rd method is to use a temporary variable (I let K=3a+4 then distribute K then substitute back in for K:
\n" ); document.write( "

\r
\n" ); document.write( "
\n" ); document.write( "
\n" ); document.write( "
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "

\n" );