Question

Percy solved the equation x2 + 7x + 12 = 12. His work is shown below. Is Percy correct? Explain.

Answer 1

What does Percy's work look like?

Answer 2

Percy is not correct because he applied the zero product property to a factored expression that was not equal to 0. He should have subtracted 12 from both sides to get x2 + 7x = 0 before factoring. The correct solutions are 0 and -7