What is the coefficient of $x$ in $(x^3 + x^2 + x + 1)(x^4 - 8x^3 + 17x^2 - 23x + 14)$?
This is defintely not a smart tactice, but let's expand everything.
I won't show all the steps, but we eventually get
\(x^{7}-7x^{6}+10x^{5}-13x^{4}+8x^{2}-9x+14\)
Thus, our answer is -9.
Thanks! :)