Solution - Simplification or other simple results

Step  1  :

Equation at the end of step  1  :

  (72b2 -  28b) +  4

Step  2  :

Trying to factor by splitting the middle term

 2.1     Factoring  49b²-28b+4 

The first term is,  49b²  its coefficient is  49 .
The middle term is,  -28b  its coefficient is  -28 .
The last term, "the constant", is  +4 

Step-1 : Multiply the coefficient of the first term by the constant   49 • 4 = 196 

Step-2 : Find two factors of  196  whose sum equals the coefficient of the middle term, which is   -28 .

Step-3 : Rewrite the polynomial splitting the middle term using the two factors found in step 2 above,  -14  and  -14 
                     49b² - 14b - 14b - 4

Step-4 : Add up the first 2 terms, pulling out like factors :
                    7b • (7b-2)
              Add up the last 2 terms, pulling out common factors :
                    2 • (7b-2)
Step-5 : Add up the four terms of step 4 :
                    (7b-2)  •  (7b-2)
             Which is the desired factorization

Multiplying Exponential Expressions :

 2.2    Multiply  (7b-2)  by  (7b-2) 

The rule says : To multiply exponential expressions which have the same base, add up their exponents.

In our case, the common base is  (7b-2)  and the exponents are :
          1 , as  (7b-2)  is the same number as  (7b-2)¹ 
 and   1 , as  (7b-2)  is the same number as  (7b-2)¹ 
The product is therefore,  (7b-2)⁽¹⁺¹⁾ = (7b-2)² 

Final result :

  (7b - 2)2