A triangle is a three-sided polygon. It has three interior angles that add up to 180° (a + b + c = 180°). An exterior angle of a triangle is equal to the sum of the two interior angles that are opposite (d = b + c). The perimeter of a triangle is equal to the sum of the lengths of its three sides, the height of a triangle is equal to the length from the base to the opposite vertex (angle) and the area equals one-half triangle base x height: a = ½ base x height.

A line on the coordinate grid can be defined by a slope-intercept equation: y = mx + b. For a given value of x, the value of y can be determined given the slope (m) and y-intercept (b) of the line. The slope of a line is change in y over change in x, \({\Delta y \over \Delta x}\), and the y-intercept is the y-coordinate where the line crosses the vertical y-axis.

To combine like terms, add or subtract the coefficients (the numbers that come before the variables) of terms that have the same variable raised to the same exponent.

4a⁶ - 6a⁶ = -2a⁶

The area of a parallelogram is equal to its length x width:

a = l x w
a = a x b
a = 3 x 7
a = 21

To multiply binomials, use the FOIL method. FOIL stands for First, Outside, Inside, Last and refers to the position of each term in the parentheses:

(y - 9)(y - 8)
(y x y) + (y x -8) + (-9 x y) + (-9 x -8)
y² - 8y - 9y + 72
y² - 17y + 72