Expand:
Collapse the numeric square before touching the bracket. The factor contains no variable, so it is just a number and can be evaluated once and for all:
Doing this first keeps the distribution to one multiplication per term instead of two.
Rewrite the problem as one product.
The expression is now a binomial times a single constant — the standard shape for the distributive law.
Distribute across the subtraction.
The minus sign stays attached to the second term; both terms get the full factor .
Do the two multiplications. Split the first one to keep it mental:
and for the coefficient of ,
so the expanded form is .
Check at two values of . At the original is , matching the constant term. At the original is , and the expansion gives . Two independent agreements confirm both coefficients.
Need to solve a different problem like this? Open the solver →