Mathematical Reflection 2

1) You can use a rectangle to model the distributive property. The rectangle shown at the bottom of the post illustrates the expression (x+3)(x+4). When simplifying this expression using the distributive property, you would distribute the x and the 3 separately, so it would look like this: x(x+4)+3(x+4). You would solve this by adding up all the products of your distribution. The model shows all the separate products as parts of a whole. You distribute the 3 and x to the x and the 4, which gives you four separate values, which are represented by the four parts of the rectangle. 2)a. To put an expression in factored form into expanded form, you could distribute. You would take one quantity and distribute the value(s) in it separately to the other quantity. For (x+4)(x+2), you would distribute like this: x(x+2)+4(x+2). b. It is generally easier to work with quadratic expressions when they are in factored form, but that means that there will be times when you have to change from expanded to factored. Expanded form usually looks like this: x²+5x+6. There is sometimes more than one way to write the expression in factored form. First, you have to split up the coefficient of x, and the two values have to multiply to the constant in the expression. 3) A function's equation is quadratic if the highest power of the variable is 2 in standard form, and in factored form the equation must have exactly two linear factors to be quadratic. 4) A quadratic function's graph is always a parabola. In factored form, the opposites of the two constants are the x-intercepts, and the line of symmetry is the value between them. The difference between the constants will tell you if it is opening up or down on the coordinate plane.