What is the standard form of y=3x(x+9)(x+18)?

1 Answer
Jan 28, 2016

y=3x3+81x2+486x

Explanation:

The general standard form of a cubic function is

y=ax3+bx2+cx+d

Since what you are currently given is the factored form, you need to expand the equation to get the standard form.

[Solution]
y=3x(x+9)(x+18)
y=3x(x2+18x+9x+162)
y=3x(x2+27x+162)
y=3x3+81x2+486x

For this example, I chose to expand the 2nd and 3rd terms first before inputting in the 1st. Note that you may choose whichever terms you want to expand first but I suggest that you consider expanding those that would not give you really big numbers so as to lessen the probability that you will incur errors in calculations.

[Solution if choose to expand the 1st and 2nd term first]
y=3x(x+9)(x+18)
y=(3x2+27x)(x+18)
y=3x3+54x2+27x2+486
y=3x3+81x2+486