<p>@mcb: Haha yes, everything you said. <3</p>
<p>@LKei: Lol.</p>
<p>Yeah, I guess learning some example problems does help you in applying those identities; I was wrong to imply that it’s straight-up memorization. Still, though, I find it hard to believe that you had no way of learning how to use them. Do you guys not have a textbook with example problems? Is there nothing on the internet about it? I guess I’m just kind of skeptical because I’ve been faced with teachers, even in problem-intensive classes like Chemistry (although fortunately not Pre-calc or Calc), who haven’t liked to explain things – and I and my classmates generally take it upon ourselves to figure out how to do these certain types of problems.</p>