Simplify 3 × a × 3 × a

The question asks you to simplify an expression, this means we need to write it with as few symbols and numbers as we can.Multiplication is commutative, this means that it doesn't matter which order we do the multiplication.Whenever we have constants and variables, we always write the constants first, then the variable.I can write the same expression as: 3 x 3 x a x aI can put in brackets to see which two numbers to multiply first. It doesn't matter where the brackets go, but it will help me to group numbers that I can simplify.I can now write this statement as: (3x3)x(axa) = 9a^2