Simplifying Binomials Using FOIL - Comments

I saw this two years ago thinking nothing of it, but this would have been pretty useful for me to look back on earlier in Algebra 1!

thanks! public education sucks.

I just got done doing this in math a couple of weeks ago. It's pretty easy for me.

I love using FOIL, though I can never remember the name of it.

My math teacher hates using this method so he taught us something he literally made up on the spot.
Mom and Dad, so sad, they break up:

If the problem was (3x + 2)(x - 4)

"Mom and Dad" is used to represent the (3x +2)

They break up:
The equation is then written
3x
2

But since we have to add the other part of the equation:

Mom and Dad share the kids:
(x - 4) are the kids, and since Mom and Dad broke up, they have to share the kids:

3x(x - 4)
2(x - 4)

Distributive property applies, or as he calls it, "dolphin jump" (because the dolphin jumps to the other numbers"

Once that all happens, you end up like so:
3x(x - 4)= 3x^2 - 12x
2(x - 4)= 2x - 8

Mom and Dad then decide breaking up was a bad idea. Mom and Dad get back together:

Now you have to add up the like terms, in which case this would be the -12x and the 2x

You bring the rest down, and add the like terms to get your final answer:

3x^2 - 10x -8 is your answer. And that's how to use the "Mom and Dad" method

This is probably the only one thing I learned in maths last year. Everything else, nope.