Question

Hank’s teacher asked him to verify that the product (y – 3)(y2 3y 9) is a difference of cubes. he used the distributive property to multiply the binomial times the trinomial. before simplifying, his product was a polynomial of the form y3 3y2 ay – 3y2 – ay – 27. what is the value of a in the polynomial?

Answer 1

The correct answer is 9

Answer 2

Assuming that the given polynomials are (y - 3) and (y^2 + 3y + 9), then the multiplication would yield the follow values below simplifying:

y^3 + 3y^2 + 9y - 3y^2 - 9y - 27

As compared to what is being solved from above, the value of "a" is 9.