Multiplying Polynomials using Area Models - Problem 4

Many students who are visual learners like to multiply polynomials using an area, or rectangle model. We know that the area of a rectangle can be found by doing length times width, so we designate one polynomial factor to be the length, and the other to be the width. From there, we set up a "rectangle" with as many boxes as we have terms along each side (here, two boxes for the binomial, and three for the trinomial.) Multiply each column top times the left row on the side to fill in each box. If done correctly, you can look along the diagonals for "like terms" to combine to get your final area product.