Expanding Double Brackets

Multiply every term accurately, manage signs and collect like terms into a simplified quadratic expression.

Curriculum rangeYears 8–10

FOIL: First, Outer, Inner, Last -- multiply every term in the first bracket by every term in the second.

First bracket (p)

Second bracket (q)

-2

$(x + 3)(x - 2)$

First

x \times x = x^2

Outer

x \times -2 = -2x

Inner

3 \times x = 3x

Last

3 \times -2 = -6

$x^2 + 3x - 2x - 6$

Collect the two x-terms together:

$x^2 + x - 6$