40% of College Students get this question wrong. AND IT MAKES ME ANGRY!

[AWAR]

Never cared about algebra that much so I can't solve stuff like this. Im pretty sure i could do that 1 year ago though.

 

[cefm]

FOIL is just a mnemonic device to remind yourself how to handle that equation. It's just a simple (x+3) squared. And it's middle-school math these days. Possible that college freshmen haven't heard the word FOIL in ages, if ever.

 

[tuldorselven]

Foil Firsts inners outers and lasts
i'm 16 and i've been able to do this since i was like 12

 

[himemiya1650]

Ya, in post secondary it really doesn't matter, foiling it would have no use, when you can find the derivative to find the 0s. Also not everyone requires math for their program. I'm doing business and pretty much every calculation can either be done on a calculator or spreadsheet.

 

[krseyffert]

Spoiler

x^2 + 6x + 9

easy one, we have to be able to do these just by looking at them or our teacher sh**s on our heads.

if you're up to it, here's an easy one [8x^2 - 12x + 5] (it doesn't factorize)
the answer is...

Spoiler

3/4 + - 1/4i

 

[escapistrules]

i learned this in middle school, the answer is x^2+6x+9. all you do is set up the problem like this (x+3)(x+3). F.O.I.L. means first, outside, inside, last. so first is x times x = x^2, outside is x times 3 = 3x, inside is x times 3 = 3x, and last is 3 times 3 = 9. then add the answers together to get x^2 + 3x + 3x + 9 = x^2+6x+9.

 

[FolkLikePanda]

I'm in Year 11 and took Maths GCSE a year early and I forget things easy where does the 6x come from? I can understand the x square and the 9 but where does the 6x come from?

 

[logiman]

wow..i could do that in the 6th grade..fucking retards

 

[nick n stuff]

i learnt how to do this stuff when i was 14 (i'm 17 now). sure i did bad in my maths A-level (E grade) but thats GCSE stuff and i got an A in that. college IS meant to be a place of learning and from my experiences college maths is meant to destroy your soul. this is not soul destroying.

 

[dthvirus]

Some people need to know this, and some people don't. That being said, some people don't know how to do basic algebra simply because they don't need to.

 

[Samcanuck]

I can't believe I actually got it. Perhaps I did learn something in my electrical program.

 

[krseyffert]

I'm in Year 11 and took Maths GCSE a year early and I forget things easy where does the 6x come from? I can understand the x square and the 9 but where does the 6x come from?

(x+3)^2 = (x+3)(x+3)
= (X x X) + (3 x X) + (3 x X) + (3 x 3)
= X^2 + 3X + 3X +9
= X^2 + 6X + 9

 

[Alex The Rat]

And Isn't college for people who failed to get to university ?

In American English "college" is traditionally used to refer to those institutions which focus almost entirely on undergraduate students (I'm not sure if undergrad is a term used in Britain either... it refers to the years between graduating from high school and achieving a bachelor's degree.) If anything I'd say that colleges are generally considered better in the United States since their model of learning implies a much more intimate, interactive, and reasoned approach than the large universities.

 

[Desaari]

Spoiler

(x+3)^2 = (x+3)(x+3)
(x+3)(x+3)= x^2 +6x +9

 

[krseyffert]

As many others have said, it really doesn't make sence out of context especially to someone who doesn't use maths on a regular basis. I had to go look in the maths curriculum to find out what it was called in Australia to jog my memory. I can't even think of a single reson you would want to expand it, and I'm studying a Ba. Science.

I would assume you wanted me to solve what x= and then tell you I need more info.

not really, i can tell you that x = -3 without doing a single calculation
but just to explain...

it's a quadratic, so 'x^2 + 6x + 9 = 0'

Therefore (x+3)(x+3) = 0

what plus 3 = 0? -3
if x = -3

(-3 + 3)(-3 + 3) = 0
0 X 0 = 0
therefore x must equal -3 to make the statement true

 

[direkiller]

I'm in Year 11 and took Maths GCSE a year early and I forget things easy where does the 6x come from? I can understand the x square and the 9 but where does the 6x come from?

it comes from having to multiply 3x twice in the equation
3x+3x=6x

mabby this might put it into light

(x+3)(x+7)

x*x=x^2
x*7=7x
3*x=3x
3*7=21
so you get x^2+3x+7x+21=x^2+10x+21

just remember that when your doing (x+3)^2 it is (x+3)*(x+3)

 

[j0frenzy]

Yeah, of course you think that people should know that, you're a math major. I'm a history and political science student, I understand FOIL (learned it in high school) but I don't really need to use it. I mean, I think it's weird when people dumb down communism to just 'that stupid system that ruined Eastern Europe'. There's a lot more to it, but because people aren't required to study it of course they're not going to look any deeper.

Having a math student run around asking this question is like if I went up to you and asked you if you knew what the realist paradox of international law is. Yes, it's required in my field, but why should other people know about it if they're in another subjects besides political science?

EDIT:

Spoiler

{x times 2+6x+9} (yes my math lingo on the computer is terrible)

High five for same majors. We should run around our campuses and ask how many members of Congress there are just to get back at the math majors who think we are stupid. Well, I can't do that. I go to school in D.C.. 80% of the campus can name every single member of Congress.
Though me personally, I new that because I find math fun. I look up stuff about calculus on Wikipedia when I am bored.

 

[LaffmanAKAJPLaffo]

This answer may be the right one, not quite sure but I gave it a go.

Spoiler

Who the hell cares?