Algebra Examples

$(x - 1) (x + 4) = 14$

Step 1

Move all terms to the left side of the equation and simplify.

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Step 1.1

Simplify the left side.

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Step 1.1.1

Simplify $(x - 1) (x + 4)$ .

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Step 1.1.1.1

Expand $(x - 1) (x + 4)$ using the FOIL Method.

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Step 1.1.1.1.1

Apply the distributive property.

$x (x + 4) - 1 (x + 4) = 14$

Step 1.1.1.1.2

Apply the distributive property.

$x \cdot x + x \cdot 4 - 1 (x + 4) = 14$

Step 1.1.1.1.3

Apply the distributive property.

$x \cdot x + x \cdot 4 - 1 x - 1 \cdot 4 = 14$

Step 1.1.1.2

Simplify and combine like terms.

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Step 1.1.1.2.1

Simplify each term.

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Step 1.1.1.2.1.1

Multiply $x$ by $x$ .

$x^{2} + x \cdot 4 - 1 x - 1 \cdot 4 = 14$

Step 1.1.1.2.1.2

Move $4$ to the left of $x$ .

$x^{2} + 4 \cdot x - 1 x - 1 \cdot 4 = 14$

Step 1.1.1.2.1.3

Rewrite $- 1 x$ as $- x$ .

$x^{2} + 4 x - x - 1 \cdot 4 = 14$

Step 1.1.1.2.1.4

Multiply $- 1$ by $4$ .

$x^{2} + 4 x - x - 4 = 14$

Step 1.1.1.2.2

Subtract $x$ from $4 x$ .

$x^{2} + 3 x - 4 = 14$

Step 1.2

Subtract $14$ from both sides of the equation.

$x^{2} + 3 x - 4 - 14 = 0$

Step 1.3

Subtract $14$ from $- 4$ .

$x^{2} + 3 x - 18 = 0$

Step 2

Use the quadratic formula to find the solutions.

$\frac{- b \pm \sqrt{b^{2} - 4 (a c)}}{2 a}$

Step 3

Substitute the values $a = 1$ , $b = 3$ , and $c = - 18$ into the quadratic formula and solve for $x$ .

$\frac{- 3 \pm \sqrt{3^{2} - 4 \cdot (1 \cdot - 18)}}{2 \cdot 1}$

Step 4

Simplify.

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Step 4.1

Simplify the numerator.

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Step 4.1.1

Raise $3$ to the power of $2$ .

$x = \frac{- 3 \pm \sqrt{9 - 4 \cdot 1 \cdot - 18}}{2 \cdot 1}$

Step 4.1.2

Multiply $- 4 \cdot 1 \cdot - 18$ .

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Step 4.1.2.1

Multiply $- 4$ by $1$ .

$x = \frac{- 3 \pm \sqrt{9 - 4 \cdot - 18}}{2 \cdot 1}$

Step 4.1.2.2

Multiply $- 4$ by $- 18$ .

$x = \frac{- 3 \pm \sqrt{9 + 72}}{2 \cdot 1}$

Step 4.1.3

Add $9$ and $72$ .

$x = \frac{- 3 \pm \sqrt{81}}{2 \cdot 1}$

Step 4.1.4

Rewrite $81$ as $9^{2}$ .

$x = \frac{- 3 \pm \sqrt{9^{2}}}{2 \cdot 1}$

Step 4.1.5

Pull terms out from under the radical, assuming positive real numbers.

$x = \frac{- 3 \pm 9}{2 \cdot 1}$

Step 4.2

Multiply $2$ by $1$ .

$x = \frac{- 3 \pm 9}{2}$

Step 5

The final answer is the combination of both solutions.

$x = 3, - 6$