Question

Explain the role of the GCF in factoring a polynomial.

Answer 1

1. GCF is a factor that is shared by all terms within a polynomial for example, if we have a polynomial of the form A*B + A*C, the GCF is A since both terms have A as a factor 2. after we factor out the GCF, it is placed outside the parentheses, in front of the rest of the polynomial. using our previous example, A*B+A*C = A(B+C) 3. we can verify that our factoring is correct by distributing the GCF to the polynomial within the parentheses