Question 81179
The problem is telling you that v = number of pills in each cup, so substitute v in for the word "cup." Do likewise for bottle. Then you get:
{{{(v)(v)(b)(b)+(v)(b)}}}

When terms are written adjacent to each other in parenthesis like this, it means that they are multiplying each other. Any term multiplied by itself is called "squared," and is written like this:
{{{(x)(x)=x^2}}}
So in your case, you can write the expression as follows:
{{{v^2b^2+(v)(b)}}}
And you are done.
Good Luck,
tutor_paul@yahoo.com