# Need help with this

#### FrontS

##### New member
"m" is a root of the following equation :
x^2 + 2x - 4 = 0

What is (m-1)(m-2)(m+3)(m+4) equal to?

#### MarkFL

##### Super Moderator
Staff member
Hello, and welcome to FMH!

Hint: Try arranging the quartic expression in $$m$$ as a quadratic in $$m^2+2m$$.

#### Jomo

##### Elite Member
Alternatively, you can solve x^2 + 2x - 4 = 0 and call the solution(s) m and then compute (m-1)(m-2)(m+3)(m+4)

#### topsquark

##### Full Member
Hello, and welcome to FMH!

Hint: Try arranging the quartic expression in $$m$$ as a quadratic in $$m^2+2m$$.
Interesting idea. How did you come up with this?

-Dan

#### MarkFL

##### Super Moderator
Staff member
Interesting idea. How did you come up with this?

-Dan
I put the expression "(m-1)(m-2)(m+3)(m+4) " into W|A to see what I got, and one form it gave was a quadratic in $$m^2+2m$$. This makes answering the question straightforward, and without having to know the value of $$m$$, which for problems like this, I think is a general desire by the authors of these problems.