How Do You Use the Formula for the Product of a Sum and a Difference?

Note:

Finding the product of two binomials with the same terms and opposite signs? You're finding the product of a sum and a difference! Use the formula for the product of a sum and a difference to quickly find the answer! This tutorial shows you how.

Keywords:

polynomial
binomial
multiplication
sum
difference
product
formula
difference of squares
reverse factoring
multiplication

Background Tutorials

Write and evaluate numerical expressions involving whole-number exponents.
- How Do You Square a Number?
  
  Want to square a number? Just take the number and multiply it by itself! If you square an integer, you get a perfect square! Check out squaring in this tutorial!
Use square root and cube root symbols to represent solutions to equations of the form x^2 = p and x^3 = p, where p is a positive rational number. Evaluate square roots of small perfect squares and cube roots of small perfect cubes. Know that √2 is irrational.
- What's a Perfect Square?
  
  Anytime you square an integer, the result is a perfect square! The numbers 4, 9, 16, and 25 are just a few perfect squares, but there are infinitely more! Check out this tutorial, and then see if you can find some more perfect squares!
Understand that polynomials form a system analogous to the integers, namely, they are closed under the operations of addition, subtraction, and multiplication; add, subtract, and multiply polynomials.
- What is a Polynomial?
  
  If you learn about algebra, then you'll see polynomials everywhere! In this tutorial, you'll learn the definition of a polynomial and see some of the common names for certain polynomials.
- What's the Formula for the Product of a Sum and a Difference?
  
  Multiplying monomials like (a + b) and (a - b) is really important when it comes to factoring, so if you want to get good at factoring, you're going to have to understand how to multiply a sum like (a + b) with a difference like (a - b)!