Answer
$-x^2-8x-16$
Work Step by Step
We start with the given expression: $-(x+4)^2$
To simplify an algebraic expression, we must eliminate any parentheses and combine like terms.
We expand the squared binomial: $-(x+4)(x+4)$
We apply the distributive property to multiply the binomials and remove the parentheses: $-(x^2+4x+4x+16)$
We combine like terms by adding: $-(x^2+8x+16)$
We apply the distributive property and multiply $-1$ by each term inside of the parentheses: $-x^2-8x-16$
