Chain Reaction – Level 1 – Hard

Topics: answers, chain, multi-step arithmetic, multi-step reasoning, questions

Each answer you find is used inside the next question. Work through the full chain carefully – if you get one wrong, it affects the rest!

1) Solve: -x(2x – 2) + (x + 3)² = -x² + 13x – 36

A =

2) Use your answer from Q1 as “a”. Now solve: (x – 2)(x + 9) + (a + 3)(x – 4) + (x + 1)² = 2x² + 26x – 95

B =

3) Use your answer from Q2 as “b”. Find the coefficient of x in the expansion of: (x + b)(x + 4)

C =

4) Use your answer from Q3 as “c”. Now solve: (x + 3)² – (x – 1)(x + 7) + c(x – 2) + 2x(x – 5) – (x + 4)(x – 5) = x² + 3x + 52

D =

5) Use your answer from Q4 as “d”. Now factorise: 2x² + dx + 36

E =

Additional instructions for Chain Reaction (Level 1, Hard)

Chain Reaction – Hard

Back-check as you go: if the chain suddenly becomes messy, it’s usually a sign error upstream.

Re-check the most recent step that involved brackets or negatives.
Confirm you substituted the right labelled value (a into the “a” step, b into the “b” step, etc.).
If a step was “coefficient/constant”, confirm you extracted the correct part after simplifying.

Hard tip: one quick verification per step saves a full restart later.

Concepts covered in this puzzle:

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