Question

which do i distribute first in 2(x-2)^2. the 2 at the beginning or the exponent 2?
ps this isn't the whole problem, just part of it.

Answer 1

Any ideas?

Answer 2

my mom thinks its the exponent. but she wasnt very good at algebra

Answer 3

I want to know what YOU think :-)

Answer 4

i think its the 2 at the beginning, then after i distribute that then i do the exponent

Answer 5

How can you get the 2 at the beginning inside the bracket?

Since what is inside the bracket is raised to the power of 2 FIRST

$$\Huge ( x – 2 )^2 = (x–2)(x–2)$$

Answer 6

so it gets split and then the first 2 gets distributed

Answer 7

Yes.

Answer 8

ok thank you!

Answer 9

Thanks for trying to learn :-)

Just remember exponents before multiplication.

Answer 10

recall \(\huge \mathbb{PEMDAS}\)

Parentheses first
Exponents next
Multiplication
D
A
S