Open-ended Expand the expression. Use pencil and paper. Describe a situation in which you would want to write and then expand an algebraic expression.

When you’re planning a party, you might want to budget for snacks based on the number of guests. Let’s say each guest costs the same, and you have fixed costs for food. If your expenses can be expressed as , expanding this expression helps you understand how much money you’ll need as the number of guests ( ) increases.

Expanding your expression gives you a clear view of how costs scale. For , first simplify inside the parentheses: . Now it reads . Distributing gives you . So, in this budgeting scenario, as your guest list grows, you’ll see each additional guest adds a predictable cost of $2!