Question

Factor x³ + x² + x + 1 by grouping. What is the resulting expression?

Answer 1

Answer:  (x² + 1)(x + 1)

Work Shown:

x³ + x² + x + 1

(x³ + x²) + (x + 1)

x²(x+1) + 1(x + 1)

(x² + 1)(x + 1)

The basic outline is to pair up the terms into two groups. We factor each group separately, and then factor out the overall GCF (x+1). You can use the FOIL rule to verify the answer.