How do you simplify (x+2)(x2)?

1 Answer
May 7, 2018

(x+2)(x2)=x24

Explanation:

Use the distributive property to multiply both terms in the first set of parenthesis by the terms in the second set:
First the x:
xx=x2.
x(2)=2x.
Now the 2:
2x=2x.
2(2)=4.
We came up with four terms: x22x+2x4.
Simplify the expression by adding the middle terms, and we get just x24.

This is a special kind of binomial (a binomial is an expression with two terms) called a difference of squares. Since (x+2)&(x2) are the same except for the sign in between, the answer is just the first term squared (x2) minus the second term squared
-(22)=4.
Here's more about difference of squares: https://www.mathsisfun.com/definitions/difference-of-squares.html