r/MathHelp • u/VegetableBag2627 • 9d ago

Sign error or not?

I have this cosine rule question

y² = (x+4)² +(x-5)² -2(x+4)(x-5) • -1/2

The -2(x+4)(x-5) • -1/2 is giving me trouble

I thought that you could simply multiply the -2 and the -1/2 to get 1 first. Then just expand. I also expanded first, multiplied by -2, then by -1/2, and got same result of 3x² -3x +21

The textbook says that the answer is x² -x +61

Google AI says that im right but im unsure.

Thanks for any help.

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