If the side of a checkerboard is (3x-2)^2 inches, express the area in terms of the variable x

Answer 1

Hello, Katie,

I'll assume a checkerboard is square. Area for a rectangle is the square of the two sides, which, for a square, is equal to (Side)². The side in your problem is (3x-2)². So we need to multiply that times itself.

(3x-2)²*(3x-2)² = (3x-2)⁴

I'm not sure how the answer should be expressed. The one above is correct, but we could also expand it to a long form:

81x⁴ - 216x³ + 216x² - 96x + 16

but that is painful and messy. It also is less obvious about what is being expressed, to me at least.

Bob