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The FOIL method is a special case of a more general method for multiplying algebraic expressions using the distributive law. The word FOIL was originally intended solely as a mnemonic for high-school students learning algebra. The term appears in William Betz's 1929 text Algebra for Today, where he states: [2]
In mathematics, brackets of various typographical forms, such as parentheses ( ), square brackets [ ], braces { } and angle brackets , are frequently used in mathematical notation. Generally, such bracketing denotes some form of grouping: in evaluating an expression containing a bracketed sub-expression, the operators in the sub-expression take ...
The acronym's procedural application does not match experts' intuitive understanding of mathematical notation: mathematical notation indicates groupings in ways other than parentheses or brackets and a mathematical expression is a tree-like hierarchy rather than a linearly "ordered" structure; furthermore, there is no single order by which ...
In mathematics, a basic algebraic operation is any one of the common operations of elementary algebra, which include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, raising to a whole number power, and taking roots (fractional power). [1] These operations may be performed on numbers, in which case they are often called arithmetic operations.
For example, multiplying the lengths (in meters or feet) of the two sides of a rectangle gives its area (in square meters or square feet). Such a product is the subject of dimensional analysis. The inverse operation of multiplication is division. For example, since 4 multiplied by 3 equals 12, 12 divided by 3 equals 4.
Examples of structures with two operations that are each distributive over the other are Boolean algebras such as the algebra of sets or the switching algebra. Multiplying sums can be put into words as follows: When a sum is multiplied by a sum, multiply each summand of a sum with each summand of the other sum (keeping track of signs) then add ...
The most common symbols of grouping are the parentheses and the square brackets, and the latter are usually used to avoid too many repeated parentheses. For example, to indicate the product of binomials, parentheses are usually used, thus: ( 2 x + 3 ) ( 3 x + 4 ) {\displaystyle (2x+3)(3x+4)} .
Unlike abstract algebra, elementary algebra is not concerned with algebraic structures outside the realm of real and complex numbers. It is typically taught to secondary school students and at introductory college level in the United States, [5] and builds on their understanding of arithmetic. The use of variables to denote quantities allows ...