This week in Polynomials, we learned how to solve different equations, and we use lots of multiplication to solve these equations. The easiest to understand, and most visual method, is the multiplication box. This is one of my favorite ways to do multiplication because it is nice for me to see all of the numbers layed out so that I don’t miss anything. The box looks like this:

                     If we have a question like this:

              (5x + 4) (7x + 8)

   We write the box like this:

In the second picture, I multiplied the 5x and the 7x to get 35×2, 4·7x to get 28x, 5x · 8 to get 40, and 4·8 to get 32.  now, to get the final answer, you add 40x + 32 which equals 72 and then you add 35x + 28x equals 63 , then you add 72 + 63 = 135 which is your final answer.