pondering

manageable with practice. The distributive property is the key here. Multiply each term in the first polynomial by each term in the second polynomial and then combine like terms. For example: \[ (x + 3)(x^2 - 2x + 4) = x(x^2 - 2x + 4) + 3(x^2 - 2x + 4) \] \[ = x^3