Open Middle®
Directions: Using the integers -9 to 9 at most one time each, place an integer in each box to create a polynomial with the least amount of terms.
Hint
How might choosing digits keep or eliminate terms?
Answer
The expression (4x^1 – 9x + 3) + (-3x^0 + 5x) has a sum of 0. What is less clear is whether that means there is one term or no terms. If that interests you, you might want to look at a conversation about it on Twitter.
Source: Robert Kaplinsky in Open Middle Math
Inspired by the Answer Comment and as an alternative problem, I took the expression and made it an equation equal to 0 with the directions: Using the integers -9 to 9 at most one time each, place an integer in each box to create a polynomial equal to zero. The outcome was better than anticipated and the variety of answers made it wide open and creative.