What Would You Do with This Multinomial?

[Fliption]

Homework Statement

If someone gave you this 5b2y + x2y2 + 5cz2 and said "Solve this problem" with no further instructions, what in the world would you do with this? It's some sort of multinomial and factoring that out is over my head if that's what is intended here. Anyone have a clue about this?

 

[JonF]

If they gave me no additional information I’d ask them to tell me what they mean by “solve” since there isn’t even any type of equality. Are the numbers supposed to be exponents?

 

[Fliption]

Yes, my apologies. All the 2s mean to the power of 2. So it should read: 5b^2y + x^2y^2 + 5cz^2

 

[JonF]

If he wants you to factor it, you can’t hardly do anything since there are only a few terms with common factors…

 

[Mark44]

This is a very poorly posed problem. You cannot "solve" an expression, which is what 5b²y + x²y² + 5cz² is.

You can solve an equation (e.g., 2x² + 3x + 5 = 0) or an inequality (e.g., 2x + y <= 0), but what you have isn't an equation or an inequality.