Expert: Richard J. Raridon - 8/21/2004

Question
Could u please explain to me how to do problems like the following:


(2x^2-3x+1)(4)(3x+2)^3(3) + (3x+2)^4(4x-3)

and (3x+2)^1/3(2)(4x-5)(4)+(4x-5)^2(1/2)(x^2-4)^ -1/2(2x)

I get confused, i mean i know how to multiply and raise to powers..but i lose count of all the numbers and variables

Answer
You just have to learn to keep track of them.  
For example, (3x+2)^3 = 27x^3 +54x^2 +36x +8
Then you to multiply that by 12 and multiply each term by each term of 2x^2 -3x +1 which will give you a total of 6 terms.  
You can't do anything with (3x+2)^1/3 or (x^2-4)^-1/2
which complicates things.