Question

Why might algebra tiles not be a good tool to use to factor x2 + 18x + 80? Explain.

Answer 1

Sample Response:  for edge.. users

Algebra tiles would not be a good tool to use to factor the trinomial because you would need to drag an x-squared tile, 18 x-tiles, and 80 plus tiles. That is a total of 99 tiles. It would take a lot of time to drag that many tiles on the board and there might not be enough space to hold all of them. You would also need to determine how to arrange all those tiles to make a rectangle. Since 80 is a multiple of 10, you might recognize that 10 and 8 are the factors that add to 18, which would give you the values to use in the X method.

Answer 2

Algebra tiles would not be a good tool to use to factor the trinomial because you would need to drag an x-squared tile, 18 x-tiles, and 80 plus tiles. That is a total of 99 tiles. It would take a lot of time to drag that many tiles on the board and there might not be enough space to hold all of them. You would also need to determine how to arrange all those tiles to make a rectangle. Since 80 is a multiple of 10, you might recognize that 10 and 8 are the factors that add to 18, which would give you the values to use in the X method.