Expanding and

removing brackets
In this unit we see how to expand an expression containing brackets. By this we mean to rewrite
the expression in an equivalent form without any brackets in. Fluency with this sort of algebraic
manipulation is an essential skill which is vital for further study.
In order to master the techniques explained here it is vital that you undertake plenty of practice
exercises so that all this becomes second nature. To help you to achieve this, the unit includes
a substantial number of such exercises.
After reading this text, and/or viewing the video tutorial on this topic, you should be able to:

• expand expressions involving brackets

Contents
1. Introduction 2
2. Frogs - an investigation to introduce the removal of brackets 2
3. Examples of expanding brackets 5
4. Multiplying together two bracketed terms 6
5. Dealing with nested brackets 8

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1. Introduction
In this unit we will see how expressions involving brackets can be written in equivalent forms
without any brackets. This process is called ‘expanding’ or ‘removing’ brackets, and is an
important algebraic skill. We motivate the study of this topic by first recalling an investigation
that you may have met before at school.

2. Frogs
There is a well-known investigation at GCSE level called ‘frogs’. Some of you might well have
attempted this particular investigation. We want to start this section by having a look at this
investigation because it will show us why we might want to use brackets.

Study Figure 1 which shows three 10 pence coins and three pounds coins.

£1 £1 £1 10p 10p 10p

Figure 1.

We want to try and interchange the pound coins on the left side with the 10-pence coins on the
right side. We have to do this by using one of two kinds of move. We can either slide into an
empty space or we can hop, or jump, over a coin of the opposite kind. We shall do this in stages,
and keep count of the number of hops, the number of slides, and the total number of moves.

We can slide the right-most £1 coin into the vacant space on its right. Then we can hop with
the left-most 10p coin into the space vacated by the £1 coin, as shown in Figure 2.

one slide £1 £1 £1 10p 10p 10p

one hop £1 £1 10p £1 10p 10p

Figure 2.

We now continue in this fashion and at each stage record the number of slides and hops. The
details are summarised in Figure 3. If we add up the total numbers of slides and hops we find
6 slides and 9 hops, a total of 15 moves.


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 hops slides

£1 £1 10p £1 10p 10p 1 1

£1 £1 10p £1 10p 10p

2 1
£1 10p £1 10p £1 10p

£1 10p £1 10p £1 10p

3 1

10p £1 10p £1 10p £1

10p £1 10p £1 10p £1

2 1

10p 10p £1 10p £1 £1

10p 10p £1 10p £1 £1

1 1

10p 10p 10p £1 £1 £1

10p 10p 10p £1 £1 £1 0 1

Figure 3.

If we were to repeat this game with a different number of coins on each side we would find the
number of slides and hops as given in Table 1.

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 Table 1

number of coins Hops Slides Moves

on each side (n)
1 1 2 3
2 4 4 8
3 9 6 15
4 16 8 24
5 25 10 35

Now the object of most investigations is to try and arrive at a prediction. Can we say what the
result would be if we had 10 coins on each side, or 50 coins on each side ? This is the power
that mathematics gives us - the power to model in symbols and to be able to use those symbols
to make our predictions. Can we make that prediction?

Look at the numbers in the column headed ‘Moves’. Notice that 3 = 1 × 3, 8 = 2 × 4, 15 = 3 × 5

and so on. It would appear that the total number of moves is equal to the number of coins,
multiplied by the number of coins plus 2.

So if we let the number of coins be n, then the total number of moves appears to be n × (n + 2),
or simply n(n + 2).

From Table 1, notice also that the number of hops appears to be n2 . The number of slides
appears to be 2n. This information is summarised in Table 2.
Table 2

number of coins (n) Hops Slides Moves

1 1 = 12 2=2×1 3 =1×3
2 4=2 2
4=2×2 8 =2×4
3 9=3 2
6=2×3 15 =3×5
4 16 = 42 8=2×4 24 =4×6
5 25 = 5 2
10 = 2 × 5 35 =5×7
n n2 2n n(n + 2)

Now the sum of the number of hops and the number of slides must equal the total number of
moves and so we have

n2 + 2n = n(n + 2)

So, this shows us how we can remove brackets. On the right hand side, the n outside must
multiply both terms inside the bracket in order to give us the result n2 + 2n.


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3. Examples of expanding brackets
Example 1
Expand 3(x + 2).
The 3 outside must multiply both terms inside the brackets:
3(x + 2) = 3x + 6
Example 2
Expand x(x − y).
The x outside must multiply both terms inside the brackets:
x(x − y) = x2 − xy
Example 3
Expand −3a2 (3 − b).
Both terms inside the brackets must be multiplied by −3a2 :
−3a2 (3 − b) = −9a2 + 3a2 b
Example 4
Expand −2x(x − y − z).
All terms inside the brackets must be multiplied by −2x:
−2x(x − y − z) = −2x2 + 2xy + 2xz

Key Point
The term outside the brackets multiplies each term inside the brackets.

a ( b + c) = ab + ac ( b + c) a = ab + ac

Exercises
1. Remove the brackets from the following expressions.
a) 5(x + 4) b) 2(y − 3) c) 4(3 − a) d) x(2 + x)
e) p(q + 3) f) −3(2 + a) g) s(t − s) h) −2(b − 3)
i) 5a(2b + 3c) j) −y(2x − 5y) k) 4(x + 2y − 3z) l) −2a(3a − 5b + 2c)

2. Simplify the following expressions.

a) 5 + 2(x + 1) b) 3x + 4(2x − 1) c) 6a − 3(a + 2) d) x2 − x(1 + x)
e) 12c − 5(2c − 1) f) 4(y + 3) − 2y g) 5pq − p(2 − p) h) 7r + 2(3 + 4r)
i) 5(2a − b) + 3(4b − 3a)

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4. Multiplying together two bracketed terms
Let us now have a look at what happens if we want to multiply out expressions where there are
two brackets multiplying each other.
Suppose we wish to expand (x + 5)(x + 10).
We imagine that the term (x + 5) is a single quantity and use it to multiply both the x and the
10 in the second pair of brackets:
(x + 5)(x + 10) = (x + 5)x + (x + 5)10
= x2 + 5x + 10x + 50
= x2 + 15x + 50

Having seen how to do this, we can shorten the process:

To find (x + 5)(x + 10):
We must ensure that each term in the first bracket multiplies each term in the second. The
arrows in the figure below help us to see that all terms have been taken into account:

(x + 5)(x +10)= x2 + 10x + 5x + 50 = x2 + 15x + 50

We can use this process for bracketed expressions like these that lead us to quadratic expressions,
and for multiplying pairs of brackets together.

Key Point
When multiplying out two brackets, each containing two terms, we must ensure that each term
in the first bracket multiplies each term in the second:

(x + a)(x+ b) = x 2 + xb + ax + ab = x2 + (a+b)x + ab

Example 5
Expand (x − 7)(x − 10).

(x − 7)(x − 10) = x2 − 10x − 7x + 70

= x2 − 17x + 70


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Example 6
Expand (x + 6)(x − 6).

(x + 6)(x − 6) = x2 − 6x + 6x − 36
= x2 − 36

Example 7
Expand (2x − 3)(x + 1).

(2x − 3)(x + 1) = 2x2 + 2x − 3x − 3

= 2x2 − x − 3

Example 8
Expand (3x − 2)(3x + 2).

(3x − 2)(3x + 2) = 9x2 + 6x − 6x − 4

= 9x2 − 4

Example 9
Expand (x2 − 2x3 + 8)(x + 2).

(x2 − 2x3 + 8)(x + 2) = x3 + 2x2 − 2x4 − 4x3 + 8x + 16

= −2x4 − 3x3 + 2x2 + 8x + 16

Example 10
Expand (x2 + x − 2)(x2 + x − 6).

(x2 + x − 2)(x2 + x − 6) = x4 + x3 − 6x2 + x3 + x2 − 6x − 2x2 − 2x + 12

= x4 + 2x3 − 7x2 − 8x + 12
Exercises

3. Expand each of the following.

a) (x + 2)(x + 3) b) (a + b)(c + 3) c) (y − 3)(y + 2)
d) (2x + 1)(3x − 2) e) (3x − 1)(3x + 1) f) (5x − 1)(x − 5)
g) (2p + 3q)(5p − 2q) h) (x + 2)(2x2 − x − 1) i) (4p + 3)(2p − q − 5)
j) (2z + 3)(2z + 3) k) (x2 − 2x + 1)(x2 + 4x + 3) l) (3x2 − 2x + 1)(x2 − 4x − 5)

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5. Dealing with nested brackets
Sometimes we have collections of expressions nested in various sets of brackets.
Example 11
Simplify a − (b − c) + a + (b − c) + b − (c − a).

a − (b − c) + a + (b − c) + b − (c − a) = a − b + c + a + b − c + b − c + a
= 3a + b − c
Example 12
In this Example we have a look at some nested brackets.
Simplify − {5x − (11y − 3x) − [5y − (3x − 6y)]}.

− {5x − (11y − 3x) − [5y − (3x − 6y)]} = − {5x − (11y − 3x) − [5y − 3x + 6y]}
= − {5x − 11y + 3x − 5y + 3x − 6y}
= − {11x − 22y}
= −11x + 22y

Example 13
Simplify 3b − {5a − [6a + 2(10a − b)]}.

3b − {5a − [6a + 2(10a − b)]} = 3b − {5a − [6a + 20a − 2b]}

= 3b − {5a − [26a − 2b]}
= 3b − {5a − 26a + 2b}
= 3b − {−21a + 2b}
= 3b + 21a − 2b
= b + 21a

Exercises

4. Simplify the following expressions:

a) 3a − 2(a + b) + 5b + 3(2b − a) b) 4x − 2[5y − x + 3(2x − y)]

Answers
a) 5x + 20 b) 2y − 6 c) 12 − 4a d) 2x + x2
1. e) pq + 3p f) −6 − 3a g) st − s2 h) −2b + 6
i) 10ab + 15ac j) −2xy + 5y 2 k) 4x + 8y − 12z l) −6a2 + 10ab − 4ac


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 a) 7 + 2x b) 11x − 4 c) 3a − 6 d) −x
2. e) 2c + 5 f) 2y + 12 g) 5pq − 2p + p2 h) 15r + 6
i) a + 7b

a) x2 + 5x + 6 b) ac + 3a + bc + 3b c) y2 − y − 6
d) 6x2 − x − 2 e) 9x2 − 1 f) 5x2 − 26x + 5
3.
g) 10p2 + 11pq − 6q 2 h) 2x3 + 3x2 − 3x − 2 i) 8p2 − 4pq − 14p − 3q − 15
j) 4z 2 + 12z + 9 k) x4 + 2x3 − 4x2 − 2x + 3 l) 3x4 − 14x3 − 6x2 + 6x − 5

4. a) −2a + 9b b) −6x − 4y

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