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4.

4 Special Products (4-19) 225

GET TING MORE INVOLVED


75. Exploration. Find the area of each of the four regions 76. Exploration. Find the area of each of the four regions
shown in the figure. What is the total area of the four re- shown in the figure. What is the total area of the four
gions? What does this exercise illustrate? regions? What does this exercise illustrate?
12 ft2, 3h ft2, 4h ft2, h2 ft2, h2  7h  12 ft2, a2, ab, ab, b2, a2  2ab  b2, (a  b)(a  b) 
(h  3)(h  4)  h2  7h  12 a2  2ab  b2
4 ft h
ft a b
h ft h ft b b

3 ft 3 ft a a

4 ft h
ft a b

FIGURE FOR EXERCISE 75 FIGURE FOR EXERCISE 76

In this 4.4 SPECIAL PRODUCTS


section In Section 4.3 you learned the FOIL method to make multiplying binomials
● The Square of a Binomial simpler. In this section you will learn rules for squaring binomials and for find-
● Product of a Sum and a
ing the product of a sum and a difference. These products are called special
Difference products.
● Higher Powers of Binomials
● Applications to Area
The Square of a Binomial
To compute (a  b)2, the square of a binomial, we can write it as (a  b)(a  b)
helpful hint and use FOIL:

To visualize the square of a (a  b)2  (a  b)(a  b)


sum, draw a square with sides  a2  ab  ab  b2
of length a  b as shown.
 a2  2ab  b2
a b

a a2 ab So to square a  b, we square the first term (a2), add twice the product of the two
terms (2ab), then add the square of the last term (b2). The square of a binomial
occurs so frequently that it is helpful to learn this new rule to find it. The rule for
b ab b2 squaring a sum is given symbolically as follows.

The Square of a Sum


The area of the large square is
(a  b)2. It comes from four (a  b)2  a2  2ab  b2
terms as stated in the rule for
the square of a sum.

E X A M P L E 1 Using the rule for squaring a sum


Find the square of each sum.
a) (x  3)2 b) (2a  5)2
226 (4-20) Chapter 4 Polynomials and Exponents

Solution
helpful hint
a) (x  3)2  x2  2(x)(3)  32  x 2  6x  9


You can mentally find the ↑ ↑
square of a number that ends Square ↑ Square
of Twice of
in 5. To find 252 take the 2
first the last
(from 25), multiply it by 3 (the product
next integer) to get 6, and
then annex 25 for 625. To find
b) (2a  5)2  (2a)2  2(2a)(5)  52
352, find 3  4  12 and annex  4a2  20a  25 ■
25 for 1225. To see why this
works, write CAUTION Do not forget the middle term when squaring a sum. The
(30  5)2 equation (x  3)2  x2  6x  9 is an identity, but (x  3)2  x2  9 is not an
 302  2  30  5  52
identity. For example, if x  1 in (x  3)2  x2  9, then we get 42  12  9,
 30(30  2  5)  25
which is false.
 30  40  25
 1200  25
 1225. When we use FOIL to find (a  b)2, we see that
2
Now find 45 and 552 mentally. (a  b)2  (a  b)(a  b)
 a2  ab  ab  b2
 a2  2ab  b2.
So to square a  b, we square the first term (a2), subtract twice the product of the
two terms (2ab), and add the square of the last term (b2). The rule for squaring a
difference is given symbolically as follows.

The Square of a Difference


(a  b)2  a2  2ab  b2

E X A M P L E 2 Using the rule for squaring a difference


Find the square of each difference.
a) (x  4)2
b) (4b  5y)2

Solution
helpful hint
a) (x  4)2  x2  2(x)(4)  42
Many students keep using  x2  8x  16
FOIL to find the square of a
sum or difference. However, b) (4b  5y)2  (4b)2  2(4b)(5y)  (5y)2
learning the new rules for  16b2  40by  25y2 ■
these special cases will pay off
in the future.
Product of a Sum and a Difference
If we multiply the sum a  b and the difference a  b by using FOIL, we get

(a  b)(a  b)  a2  ab  ab  b2
 a2  b2.

The inner and outer products have a sum of 0. So the product of a sum and a differ-
ence of the same two terms is equal to the difference of two squares.
4.4 Special Products (4-21) 227

The Product of a Sum and a Difference


(a  b)(a  b)  a2  b2

E X A M P L E 3 Product of a sum and a difference


Find each product.
a) (x  2)(x  2) b) (b  7)(b  7) c) (3x  5)(3x  5)
Solution
helpful hint a) (x  2)(x  2)  x2  4
You can use b) (b  7)(b  7)  b2  49
(a  b)(a  b)  a2  b2 c) (3x  5)(3x  5)  9x2  25 ■
to perform mental arithmetic
tricks like Higher Powers of Binomials
19  21  (20  1)(20  1)
 400  1 To find a power of a binomial that is higher than 2, we can use the rule for squaring
 399 a binomial along with the method of multiplying binomials using the distributive
What is 29  31? 28  32? property. Finding the second or higher power of a binomial is called expanding the
binomial because the result has more terms than the original.

E X A M P L E 4 Higher powers of a binomial


Expand each binomial.
a) (x  4)3 b) (y  2)4

study tip Solution


a) (x  4)3  (x  4)2(x  4)
Correct answers often have
 (x 2  8x  16)(x  4)
more than one form. If your
answer to an exercise doesn’t  (x 2  8x  16)x  (x 2  8x  16)4
agree with the one in the back  x3  8x 2  16x  4x2  32x  64
of this text, try to determine if
it is simply a different form of
 x3  12x2  48x  64
the answer. For example, 1x b) (y  2)4  (y  2)2(y  2)2
2
and x look different but they
2
 (y2  4y  4)(y2  4y  4)
are equivalent expressions.  (y2  4y  4)(y2)  (y2  4y  4)(4y)  (y2  4y  4)(4)
 y4  4y3  4y2  4y3  16y2  16y  4y2  16y  16
 y4  8y3  24y2  32y  16 ■

Applications to Area
E X A M P L E 5 Area of a pizza
A pizza parlor saves money by making all of its round pizzas one inch smaller in ra-
dius than advertised. Write a trinomial for the actual area of a pizza with an adver-
tised radius of r inches.
Solution
A pizza advertised as r inches has an actual radius of r  1 inches. The actual area
is (r  1)2:
(r  1)2  (r 2  2r  1)  r 2  2r  .
So r 2  2r   is a trinomial representing the actual area. ■
228 (4-22) Chapter 4 Polynomials and Exponents

WARM-UPS
True or false? Explain your answer.
1. (2  3)2  22  32 False
2. (x  3)2  x 2  6x  9 for any value of x. True
3. (3  5)2  9  25  30 True
4. (2x  7)2  4x 2  28x  49 for any value of x. True
5. (y  8)2  y2  64 for any value of y. False
6. The product of a sum and a difference of the same two terms is equal to the
difference of two squares. True
7. (40  1)(40  1)  1599 True
8. 49  51  2499 True
9. (x  3)2  x2  3x  9 for any value of x. False
10. The square of a sum is equal to a sum of two squares. False

4. 4 EXERCISES
Reading and Writing After reading this section, write out the Square each binomial. See Example 2.
answers to these questions. Use complete sentences. 19. (a  3)2 20. (w  4)2
1. What are the special products? a2  6a  9 w2  8w  16
The special products are (a  b)2, (a  b)2, and 21. (t  1)2 22. (t  6)2
(a  b) (a  b). t 2  2t  1 t 2  12t  36
2. What is the rule for squaring a sum? 23. (3t  2)2 24. (5a  6)2
(a  b)2  a2  2ab  b2 9t 2  12t  4 25a2  60a  36
3. Why do we need a new rule to find the square of a sum 25. (s  t)2 26. (r  w)2
when we already have FOIL? s2  2st  t 2 r 2  2rw  w2
It is faster to do by the new rule than with FOIL.
27. (3a  b)2 28. (4w  7)2
4. What happens to the inner and outer products in the product 9a 2  6ab  b2 16w2  56w  49
of a sum and a difference?
29. (3z  5y)2 30. (2z  3w)2
In (a  b)(a  b) the inner and outer products have a sum
9z2  30yz  25y2 4z 2  12wz  9w 2
of zero.
Find each product. See Example 3.
5. What is the rule for finding the product of a sum and a
difference? 31. (a  5)(a  5) 32. (x  6)(x  6)
(a  b)(a  b)  a2  b2 a2  25 x 2  36
6. How can you find higher powers of binomials? 33. (y  1)(y  1) 34. (p  2)(p  2)
Higher powers of binomials are found by using the distrib- y2  1 p2  4
utive property. 35. (3x  8)(3x  8) 36. (6x  1)(6x  1)
9x2  64 36x 2  1
Square each binomial. See Example 1. 37. (r  s)(r  s) 38. (b  y)(b  y)
7. (x  1)2 8. (y  2)2 r2  s2 b2  y 2
x  2x  1
2
y2  4y  4
39. (8y  3a)(8y  3a) 40. (4u  9v)(4u  9v)
9. (y  4) 2
10. (z  3)2 64y2  9a2 16u2  81v 2
y  8y  16
2
z2  6z  9
41. (5x  2)(5x  2)
2 2
42. (3y2  1)(3y2  1)
11. (3x  8) 2
12. (2m  7)2 25x  4
4
9y 4  1
9x 2  48x  64 4m2  28m  49
Expand each binomial. See Example 4.
13. (s  t)2 14. (x  z)2
s2  2st  t 2 x 2  2xz  z2 43. (x  1)3 x 3  3x 2  3x  1
15. (2x  y) 2
16. (3t  v)2 44. (y  1)3 y3  3y 2  3y  1
4x  4xy  y
2 2
9t 2  6tv  v2 45. (2a  3)3 8a3  36a2  54a  27
17. (2t  3h) 2
18. (3z  5k)2 46. (3w  1)3 27w3  27w2  9w  1
4t  12ht  9h
2 2
9z2  30kz  25k 2 47. (a  3)4 a4  12a3  54a2  108a  81
4.4 Special Products (4-23) 229

48. (2b  1)4 16b4  32b3  24b2  8b  1 82. Square lot. Sam lives on a lot that he thought was a
49. (a  b)4 a4  4a3b  6a2b2  4ab3  b4 square, 157 feet by 157 feet. When he had it surveyed, he
50. (2a  3b)4 16a4  96a3b  216a2b2  216ab3  81b4 discovered that one side was actually 2 feet longer than
he thought and the other was actually 2 feet shorter than he
Find each product. thought. How much less area does he have than he thought
51. (a  20)(a  20) 52. (1  x)(1  x) he had? 4 square feet
a 2  400 1  x2 83. Area of a circle. Find a polynomial that represents the area
53. (x  8)(x  7) 54. (x  9)(x  5) of a circle whose radius is b  1 meters. Use the value
x 2  15x  56 x 2  4x  45 3.14 for . 3.14b2  6.28b  3.14 square meters
55. (4x  1)(4x  1) 56. (9y  1)(9y  1) 84. Comparing dart boards. A toy store sells two sizes of cir-
16x 2  1 81y 2  1 cular dartboards. The larger of the two has a radius that is
57. (9y  1)2 58. (4x  1)2 3 inches greater than that of the other. The radius of the
81y 2  18y  1 16x 2  8x  1 smaller dartboard is t inches. Find a polynomial that repre-
59. (2t  5)(3t  4) 60. (2t  5)(3t  4) sents the difference in area between the two dartboards.
6t 2  7t  20 6t 2  7t  20 6t  9 square centimeters
61. (2t  5)2 62. (2t  5)2
4t 2  20t  25 4t 2  20t  25 t + 3 cm
63. (2t  5)(2t  5) 64. (3t  4)(3t  4) t cm
4t 2  25 9t2  16
65. (x2  1)(x 2  1) 66. (y3  1)(y3  1)
x4  1 y6  1
67. (2y3  9)2 68. (3z4  8)2
4y6  36y 3  81 9z8  48z4  64
69. (2x 3  3y2)2 70. (4y 5  2w 3)2
4x 6  12x 3y 2  9y 4 16y10  16y 5w 3  4w6
FIGURE FOR EXERCISE 84
  3 y  2
1 1 2 2 1 2
71. x   72.
2 3
1 2 1 1 4 2 2 1 85. Poiseuille’s law. According to the nineteenth-century physi-
x  x    y  y   cian Poiseuille, the velocity (in centimeters per second) of
4 3 9 9 3 4
blood r centimeters from the center of an artery of radius R
73. (0.2x  0.1)2
centimeters is given by
0.04x2  0.04x  0.01
74. (0.1y  0.5)2 v  k(R  r)(R  r),
0.01y2  0.1y  0.25 where k is a constant. Rewrite the formula using a special
75. (a  b)3 product rule. v  k(R2  r2)
a3  3a2b  3ab2  b3
76. (2a  3b)3
8a3  36a2b  54ab2  27b3
77. (1.5x  3.8)2
2.25x2  11.4x  14.44
78. (3.45a  2.3)2
11.9025a2  15.87a  5.29
79. (3.5t  2.5)(3.5t  2.5)
12.25t2  6.25 r
R
80. (4.5h  5.7)(4.5h  5.7)
20.25h2  32.49
In Exercises 81–90, solve each problem.
81. Shrinking garden. Rose’s garden is a square with sides of
length x feet. Next spring she plans to make it rectangular
by lengthening one side 5 feet and shortening the other side
FIGURE FOR EXERCISE 85
by 5 feet. What polynomial represents the new area? By how
much will the area of the new garden differ from that of the 86. Going in circles. A promoter is planning a circular race
old garden? x2  25 square feet, 25 square feet smaller track with an inside radius of r feet and a width of w feet.
230 (4-24) Chapter 4 Polynomials and Exponents

89. Investing in treasury bills. An investment advisor uses the


polynomial P(1  r)10 to predict the value in 10 years of a
w client’s investment of P dollars with an average annual re-
turn r. The accompanying graph shows historic average an-
r
nual returns for the last 20 years for various asset classes
(T. Rowe Price, www.troweprice.com). Use the historical
average return to predict the value in 10 years of an invest-
ment of $10,000 in U.S. treasury bills? $20,230.06

Average annual return (percent)


20
16.7%
16
12 10.3%
8 7.3%
FIGURE FOR EXERCISE 86
4 3.4%
The cost in dollars for paving the track is given by the 0
Large Long-term U.S. Inflation
formula company corporate treasury
C  1.2[(r  w)2  r 2]. stocks bonds bills

Use a special product rule to simplify this formula. What is FIGURE FOR EXERCISES 89 AND 90
the cost of paving the track if the inside radius is 1000 feet
and the width of the track is 40 feet? 90. Comparing investments. How much more would the in-
C  1.2[2rw  w2], $307,624.75 vestment in Exercise 89 be worth in 10 years if the client
87. Compounded annually. P dollars is invested at annual in- invests in large company stocks rather than U.S. treasury
terest rate r for 2 years. If the interest is compounded annu- bills? $26,619.83
ally, then the polynomial P(1  r)2 represents the value of
the investment after 2 years. Rewrite this expression with- GET TING MORE INVOLVED
out parentheses. Evaluate the polynomial if P  $200 and
r  10%. P  2Pr  Pr 2, $242 91. Writing. What is the difference between the equations
88. Compounded semiannually. P dollars is invested at an- (x  5)2  x 2  10x  25 and (x  5)2  x2  25?
nual interest rate r for 1 year. If the interest is compounded The first is an identity and the second is a conditional
2 equation.
semiannually, then the polynomial P1   represents
r
2 92. Writing. Is it possible to square a sum or a difference with-
the value of the investment after 1 year. Rewrite this ex- out using the rules presented in this section? Why should
pression without parentheses. Evaluate the polynomial if you learn the rules given in this section?
P  $200 and r  10%. A sum or difference can be squared with the distributive
Pr 2 property, FOIL, or the special product rules. It is easier with
P  Pr  , $220.50
4 the special product rules.

4.5 DIVISION OF POLYNOMIALS


You multiplied polynomials in Section 4.2. In this section you will learn to divide
In this polynomials.
section
Dividing Monomials Using the Quotient Rule
● Dividing Monomials Using
the Quotient Rule In Chapter 1 we used the definition of division to divide signed numbers. Because
● Dividing a Polynomial by a the definition of division applies to any division, we restate it here.
Monomial
● Dividing a Polynomial by a
Division of Real Numbers
Binomial If a, b, and c are any numbers with b  0, then
abc provided that c  b  a.

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