The Purplemath Forums

The however part deals with the fact that the certain book that I'm using for self-study throws a curve ball so to say. The chapter of solving polynomials doesn't explain how to solve this particular problem. http://i51.tinypic.com/25ak94g.jpg I need a good explanation on why the problems 87 and 88 ...

I first saw that a b and x are common factors in the problem. At first I knew that a and b needed to come out. I just didn't know how to do it. I thought ab but then I saw that a and b aren't ever combined together with multiplication. I figured it was a-b or a+b. I'm not sure why it has to be a+b b...

I have a rocks for jocks algebra math book. The one issue I have with this book is that in the practice plus area there are always problems that I have never seen and haven't been given any chapter in which to reference to get the right answer. An example of this is the following problem: (x-7)^2-4a...