Expanding, Using The Area Model

Today my grade 10 class worked on multiplying binomials using tiles and again using the area model.

Instead of drawing all the tiles each time, we can notice that there are quadrants that form. We have the x squared terms in one corner, and diagonal to that we have the unit squares. On the other diagonal we have all of the x terms. We could draw out the tiles each time, or we can use the area model or the box method to multiply.

One interesting thing to observe is that the diagonals in the box have the same product. This will be important later!

We did a lot of multiplying today, including expanding a binomial squared.

It’s heartwarming to see these kinds of doodles! Glad we are all enjoying the math!