How+To+Factor

 When factoring any expression, there are certain things you should always look for right away. **1) GCF- Look for a greatest common factor in the expression. ** 4x 2 +8x+12 In this equation you would take out 4. So we would be left with 4(x 2 +2x+3).

**2) Difference of Squares-Check if the equation is a difference of squares, an easy way is to look if it is two terms with a subtraction sign between. ** 16x 2 -49 You would take the square roots of each and end up with (4x + 7) (4x - 7).

**3) Perfect Square Trinomial-Check if the equation has three terms and the last two are perfect squares. ** x 2 + 10x +25 In this example you would end up with (x + 5) 2

**4) Trinomial where a=1-Make sure that you have three terms and your first term is just x 2 . ** <span style="display: block; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">x 2 + 7x + 12 <span style="display: block; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">You will take out x and end up with (x + 3) (x + 4)

<span style="display: block; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">**5) Trinomial where a≠1-Look for a trinomial while the coefficient before x 2 is not 1.** <span style="display: block; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">5x 2 + 23x +26 <span style="display: block; font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">You should end up with (5x + 13) (x + 2)