Question

In your own words, explain how to factor a quadratic expression

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

With the quadratic equation in this form: $ax^2+bx+c=0$

Step 1: Find two numbers that multiply to give ac (in other words a times c), and add to give b.

Example: 2x^2 + 7x + 3

ac is 2×3 = 6 and b is 7

So we want two numbers that multiply together to make 6, and add up to 7

In fact 6 and 1 do that (6×1=6, and 6+1=7)

How do we find 6 and 1?

It helps to list the factors of ac=6, and then try adding some to get b=7.

Factors of 6 include 1, 2, 3 and 6.

1 and 6 add to 7, and 6×1=6.

Step 2: Rewrite the middle with those numbers:

Rewrite 7x with 6x and 1x:

2x^2 + 6x + x + 3

Step 3: Factor the first two and last two terms separately:

The first two terms 2x^2 + 6x factor into 2x(x+3)

The last two terms x+3 don't actually change in this case

So we get:

2x(x+3) + (x+3)

Step 4: If we've done this correctly, our two new terms should have a clearly visible common factor.

In this case we can see that (x+3) is common to both terms, so we can go:

Start with: 2x(x+3) + (x+3)

Which is: 2x(x+3) + 1(x+3)

And so: (2x+1)(x+3)

Done!

Check: (2x+1)(x+3) = 2x2 + 6x + x + 3 = 2x2 + 7x + 3 (Yes)

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