Expand brackets, collect like terms and reduce a polynomial expression to its simplest form.
How simplify is worked out
The calculator parses your expression into a tree, multiplies out every bracket, and collects the coefficients of each power of x into a single tidy polynomial.
For expressions that are not polynomials — those involving trigonometric functions or division by x — it falls back to structural simplification, folding constants and removing redundant terms.
How to use it
- Type an expression in x, using brackets freely.
- Read the expanded and collected form.
- Evaluate at a value of x to check the result matches the original.
Formula reference
expand every product, then collect terms with the same power of x
degree = highest power with a non-zero coefficient
Worked example
The calculator opens with a expression in x of 2(x + 3)^2 – 4x + 1, evaluate at x = of 1. On those figures the simplified is 2x^2 + 8x + 19. Underneath, Expanded form comes out at 2x^2 + 8x + 19 and Degree at 2. Change any field and every figure updates as you type.
Common questions
What does simplify mean here?
Multiplying out brackets and combining like terms so that each power of x appears exactly once.
Does it factor?
No — factoring is the reverse operation. Use the factoring calculator for that.
Why check the value?
Evaluating both forms at the same x is the quickest way to confirm no algebra was lost in the expansion.