This is pathetic.

Commonwealth

Commonwealth

Active member
I'm in calc right now, and I'm struggling with an algebra problem. So I'm coming to you guys.

I need to de-FOIL this problem:

(x^3 - 8)

I learned this in 8th grade, but I forgot how to do it. I've talked to 2 kids on my hall and my RA, and all of them forgot, too. Help, please!

I know that the answer is going to be (x - #)(x^2 - #x + #), if that makes sense.
 
well i took a PSAT this morning and i swear there was a problem just like that....... i choose letter C if that helps......
 
theres a program called mathematica ?
it might help if you get a torrent for it.
but um i have no clue haha i forgot as well
 
im pretty sure the first step is (x-2)^3 cus if u take the 3rd root of x^3 and -8 u get x-2 so i think it might be (x-2)(x-2)(x-2) i might be wrong tho
 
the thing is, we're doing limits and derivatives..so in order to finish the rest of the problem, I needed to figure it out.

And for the record, I did what every good math student does - I looked in the back of the book.

+Karm for who_cares and the other people that tried to help out.
 
i think it has to be different from (x+2)(x-2)(x+2) or something like that because no matter which way you do it the 2 will never cancel out the 4x when you multiply the trinomial by the binomial. maybe think about order of operations and find a way to do it through parenthesis, or just skip it and tell the teacher you couldn't figure it out
 
So happy I'm done with math... sorry dude, I'd help if I could but as soon as I met my math requirement I swore off that terrible fucking subject forever, I suck at it even more than I used to now.
 
The form you said it has to be in is impossible for x^3 minus 8, that would be the form if it was plus 8. All you have to do is treat 8 as 2^3, then you can treat the problem as the difference between two cubes as such:

x^3 - 2^3 = (x-2)(x^2 + 2x + 4)

After you check, you can see that this is = x^3 - 8.
 
holy shit this thread just made me realize how useless 1/2 the stuff I learned in HS was.

I would advise you to shamelessly flirt with the teachers until you graduate; it never fails. Unless they're old men, then....... well then you're fucked.
 
My professor is of Ghanan heritage, born in GB, moved to Norway when he was young, took a job in Canada as a young man and is now teaching math at UVM.

If you've ever read Of Mice and Men, he is exactly like Lenny.
 
i havn't taken a legit math like that in college and im in my sophomore year. i hated that shit. happy suffering! it will be over soon.
 
me too! im pretty sure everyone got form W because i took the test today, had that same problem, and think i answered C hahah
 
I'm a seinor. I haven't taken math or science (well the science of photographic processes (film&developing) was HELL but).... since highschool.
 
He is correct.

I've taken up to second year university calculus, third year stuff I just don't have time for.

I take math as electives..
 
I really don't know..

I like math. Seriously once you start taking higher level math beyond the bullshit intro stuff and first year memorization shit, it gets interesting. None of that lame trivial math..

Everything I deal with is 3+ dimensional. You bring math to a whole new level. And you see how minimal everything you learned about math in the past was. Seriously, everything you learned is just a tiny concept and now you put it all together and actually see what you can do.

Mathematically you can do sooo much. It's hard to explain.

Math is just a pattern and once you get it, it works. But, you still need to be good at it.. Some of the shit I've done is crazy. You would honestly look at my page and be like wtf? Or as my manager at work said when I was solving a problem in the back... that looks like Egyptian.

And that is my spiel about calc.

 
Just don't keep going in math, that elated feeling dies when your teacher explains how easy it is to work in 3 dimensions right before he pulls 2 more out of his ass. It's a good time. I liked math until Calc 3 I think.
 
I've already gone past, what I believe calc 3 is. I'm guessing its 3D multivariable, multivector shit. Planes, 3D space, Partial derivatives, multiple integrals and such? If so then yes.

That would be the equivalent of Math 200 for me.
 
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