Chapter 5

Section 6

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5.6 Special Products

1 Square binomials.
2 Find the product of the sum and difference of
two terms.
3 Find greater powers of binomials.

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Objective 1

Square binomials.

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Square binomials.
The square of a binomial is a trinomial consisting of the
square of the first term of the binomial, plus twice the product
of the two terms, plus the square of the last term of the binomial.
For x and y,
    x 2  2 xy  y 2 .
2
x y
 x  y   x 2  2 xy  y 2 .
2
Also,

Notice that in the square of a sum, all of the terms are

positive. In the square of a difference, the middle term is
negative.
A common error when squaring a binomial is to forget the middle term of the
product. In general,
 x  y  x 2  2 xy  y 2 , not x 2  y 2
2

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EXAMPLE 1 Squaring a Binomial

Find (x + 4)2.

Solution:  x  4 x  4
 x 2  4 x  4 x  16
 x 2  8 x  16

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EXAMPLE 2 Squaring Binomials

Square each binomial and simplify.

Solution:
 2 x  1   2 x  1 2 x  1  4 x 2  2 x  2 x  1  4 x 2  4 x  1
2

 5r  6 s 
2
  5r  6s  5r  6s   25r 2  30rs  30rs  36s 2
 25r 2  60rs  36s 2
2
 1  1  1 3 3 1
 3k     3k   3k    9k  k  k 
2

 2  2  2 2 2 4
6 1 1
 9k  k 
2
 9k  3k 
2

2 4 4
x  2x  7  x  2 x  7  2 x  7   x  4 x 2  14 x  14 x  49 
2

 x  4 x 2  28 x  49    4 x3  28 x 2  49 x 
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Objective 2

Find the product of the sum and

difference of two terms.

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Find the product of the sum and difference
of two terms.
In binomial products of the form (x + y)(x − y), one binomial is
the sum of two terms and the other is the difference of the same
two terms. Consider (x + 2)(x − 2).

 x  2 x  2  x2  2x  2x  4
 x2  4
Thus, the product of x + y and x − y is the difference of two
squares.
 x + y  x – y   x 2 – y 2
The product rules of this section are essential as we continue to
chapters 6 and 7. Remember and practice them.
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 Finding the Product of the Sum
EXAMPLE 3 and Difference of Two Terms

Find the product.

3  y 3  y 
Solution:  32  y 2

 9  y2

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 Finding the Product of the Sum
EXAMPLE 4 and Difference of Two Terms

Find each product.

Solution:
    
   100m 2  49
2
 
2
10 m 7 10m 7 10 m 7

2
 1  1 1 1
 3r    3r     3r     9r 
2 2

 2  2 2 4

x  6 x  5 6 x  5  x  6 x    5  2 2
  x 36 x 2
 25 

 36 x  25 x 3

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Objective 3

Find greater powers of binomials.

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 Finding Greater Powers of
EXAMPLE 5 Binomials

Find each product.

Solution:
 4 x  1   4 x  1 4 x  1
3 2

 16 x 2  8 x  1  4 x  1
 64 x3  32 x 2  4 x  16 x 2  8 x  1
 64 x3  48 x 2  12 x  1
 3k  2    3k  2   3k  2 
4 2 2

  9k 2  12k  4  9k 2  12k  4 

 81k 4  108k 3  36k 2  108k 3  144k 2  48k  36k 2  48k  16

 81k 4  216k 3  216k 2  96k  16
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