Question

What is the factored form x^3 - 1 ?

Answer 1

Answer: x^3 - 1 = (x - 1)(x^2 + x + 1)

Explanation:

This is a type of factorizing called the sum or difference of 2 cubes:

a^3 - b^3 = (a - b)(a^2 + ab + b^2)

The sum of the cubes is factored as:

a^3 + b^3 = (a + b)(a^2 - ab + b^2)

In this case, we have: x^3 - 1 so follow the rule above.

x^3 - 1 = (x - 1)(x^2 + x + 1)