Simplify Terms with Brackets

You may already know how to expand simple bracket such as: 

5(b + 3) = 5b + 15

5a(b + 4) = 5ab + 20a

Now we are going to look at expanding brackets where some of the terms involve indices.

Remember that indices is just another way of saying powers. 

We can use index laws to help us simplify terms when expanding brackets.

Remember that when we multiply out numbers with indices, we can just add the powers:

e.g. w³ × w² = w⁵

Let's apply this to expanding brackets.

e.g. Expand 5a²(a⁴ + 2a)

5a² × a⁴ = 5a⁶

5a² × 2a = 10a³

So the answer is: 5a⁶ + 10a³

In this activity, we will expand brackets to create simpler expressions, applying index laws to calculate successfully when working with powers.