Algebra 1 : How to use FOIL in the distributive property

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Algebra 1

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Example Questions

Example Question #11 : Foil

Use FOIL to distribute the following:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Make sure you keep track of negative signs when doing FOIL, especially when doing the Outer and Inner steps.

Example Question #11 : Foil

Use FOIL to distribute the following:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

When the 2 terms differ only in their sign, the -term drops out from the final product.

Example Question #63 : Distributive Property

Solve:  

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To solve this, use the FOIL method.

Follow suit for .

Combine like terms and simplify.

Example Question #64 : Distributive Property

Multiply the binomials using the FOIL method. 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Using the FOIL method: 

First terms multiplied: 

Outer terms: 

Inner terms: 

Last terms: 

Added together, they make the polynomial 

Example Question #65 : Distributive Property

Use the FOIL method to simplify:  

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Use the following formula as an approach to FOIL method.

Simplify and combine like terms.

Example Question #61 : Distributive Property

Use the FOIL method to distribute the following expression.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

FOIL is a method used for distribution. It stands for first, outer, inner, and last. First you multiply the first terms, in this case  and . Next the first term and the outer term  and . Then, the inner terms  and . Finally, the last terms  and . This will give you the expression . When simplified the expression becomes .

Example Question #67 : Distributive Property

Use the FOIL method to expand .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The question requires the problem to be solved with the FOIL method (First, Outer, Inner, Last). This describes the process by which you expand a binomial.

Four terms are created from the multiplication of two binomials before simplification.

For example:

So we can fill in our variables and simplify by combining like terms.

Example Question #68 : Distributive Property

Evaluate the following:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Use the FOIL method and combine like terms.

FOIL stands for:

First (multiply the first term in each binomial together)

Outer (multiply the outer terms of each binomial together)

Inner (multiply the inner terms of each binomial together)

Last (multiply the last term from each binomial together)

Using the FOIL method on the above binomials we get the following.

Example Question #61 : Distributive Property

Use the FOIL method to completely combine these two binomials: 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To combine these two binomials completely one must use the FOIL method. The FOIL method is just a way to distribute terms when there are 4 or more terms to be multiplied and it is based off the simpler distributive rule that one would use to combine say . The F stands for "multiply the first term in each parenthesis". The O stands for "multiply the outer terms in each parenthesis." The I represents the multiplication of the inner terms in each parenthesis. Finally the L stands for "mutliply the last term in each parenthesis." After these four steps are complete just combine like terms.

First lets multiply the first term (3x) by everything in the second set of parenthesis:

Can you see how this is the same as steps F (3x and 10) and O (3x and 4x)

Next we will multiply the inner term (2) by everything in the second set of parenthesis:

Can you see how this is equivalent to step I (2 and 10) and L (2 and 4x)?

Now combine like terms:

Example Question #70 : Distributive Property

Simplify the following expression: .

Possible Answers:

None of the above

Correct answer:

Explanation:

In order to simplify the above expression, we can use the FOIL Method (First, Outer, Inner, Last) to multiply the elements of the expression and add the results. Given , then:

First: 

Outer: 

Inner: 

Last: 

Thus, by FOIL:

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