Expanding brackets examples
Use these examples to review bracket expansion before trying your own expression in the solver tool.
What this topic means and what to look for first.
Expanding brackets means multiplying terms into the bracket and simplifying the result.
The safest route is to work term by term and combine like terms at the end.
One reliable route through the topic.
- 1Multiply the outside term into every term inside the bracket.
- 2For two brackets, multiply each term in the first bracket by each term in the second.
- 3Collect and simplify like terms.
- 4Check signs carefully before writing the final expression.
See the method in action.
Expand 3(x + 4)
- Multiply 3 by x and 4.
- This gives 3x + 12.
Expand (x + 2)(x + 5)
- Multiply each term in the first bracket by each term in the second.
- This gives x^2 + 5x + 2x + 10.
- So the final answer is x^2 + 7x + 10.
Things that commonly send the method off track.
- Forgetting to multiply one of the terms inside the bracket.
- Dropping a negative sign while expanding.
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Want to try a similar problem yourself?
Create a free account if you want to use the solver beta after reading the guide.
A free account is the current follow-up route for returning to the solver beta and future guide updates as the public library grows.
Extra algebra revision resources
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Short answers worth checking.
Yes. Writing the expanded line first and then collecting like terms is usually the cleanest route.
Expand carefully again or factorise the final expression if possible to see if it returns to the original brackets.
Continue with the next closely related topic.
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