Special

Products:
Square of a
Binomial
 Introduction
Man cannot live without a smoother
relationship with others. So that when two
persons are related to each other, their
relationship can be described in two
opposite ways. If Dr. Rubio is John’s
teacher, then we can also say that John is
Dr. Rubio’s student. This is the same true in
Algebra, numbers/expressions too are
related to each other. We can also say that
4 is related to 2 in manner that 4 is the
square of 2 and 2 is the square root of 4.
 Special Products
In mathematics products are obtained
by multiplication. In this section, you
will discover patterns that help you
determine the products of polynomials.
These are called special products.
They are called special products
because products are obtained through
definite patterns.
 Recall: Laws of Exponents
1. The Product of Powers
am * an = am+n
Examples:

x 3* =x2 x5

4 5
x *x =x9
• The exponent “product rule” tells
us that, when multiplying two
powers that have the same base,
you can add the exponents
 Recall: Laws of Exponents
1. The Product of Powers
am * an = am+n
Examples:

4² x 4³= 4x4x4x4x4
4 2+3 = 45
 Another Example

3
(2x ) 4
(-3x ) =

-6x 7
2. The Power of a Power

(am)n = amn
Examples:
(x4)3 = x12
(x2)3 = x6
(4x3)2 = 16x6
Another Example

4
(3y z) 5 =

20
243y z 5
3. The Power of a Product

(ab) m = m
a bm

Examples:
(2x)3 = 8x3
(2a2b4c7)4 = 16a8b16c28
Another Example
4 5
(-5x y z) 2 =

8 10
25x y z 2
Negative x Negative = Positive

Negative x Positive = Negative

Positive x Positive = Positive

2x+2x
3x-2x
-2x-6x
x+2x
-x+-x
-9x+2x
Square of a Binomial

(x+y) 2

(x-y) 2
How to expand Product
of a binomial?
The steps are given on
the following slides
Square of Binomial
Multiply. We can find a shortcut.

(x + )2
This is the square of a binomial pattern.

(x + 3) (x + 3)

x² + 3x + 3x + 9
Shortcut: Square the first term, add twice
= x² + 6x + 9 the product of both terms and add the
square of the second term.
This is a “Perfect Square Trinomial.”
 Multiply. Use the shortcut.

(x + 5)2
Shortcut: x² + 2xy + y2

= (x)² + 2(x 5) + (5)2

●

= x² + 10x + 25
 Try these!
(x + 7) 2

(x - 8)2

(x + 4) 2

(x 7) 2
Multiply. We can find a shortcut.

(x – y)2
This is the square of a binomial pattern.

(x – y) (x – y)

x² - xy - xy + y2
= x² - 2xy + y2
This is a “Perfect Square Trinomial.”
 Multiply. Use the shortcut.

(x - 2)2
Shortcut: x² - 2xy + y2

= x² - 4x + 4