Twizzler0171 wrote:
W00t. Just got to monomials and trinomials in my math book, and have no clue what is going on there. I think I've figured out the monomial thing, but the trinomials still have me going cuckoo. Woohoo. Factoring and stuff I'm having the biggest problem with.
Anyways, here are a few examples of the sort of problems I'm having. Err... lessee...
Saxon Algebra 1, Problem Set 72 (so you know where to look if you have the right resources).
Factor. Begin by factoring out the greatest common factor.
7. (x - 1)x2 + 10(x - 1)
11. 2x3 + 16x2 + 30x
I'd post more examples, but mny keyboard is currently glitching, and I can't type right. If you have any questions, well... you know what to do. Oh! And those smaller numbers are supposed to be 'powers of'.
The following mathematical expression is valid (the distributive law): a(b+c) = ab + ac
It is no big surprise, then, that: ab + ac = a(b+c). When you factor a polynomial, you are essentially "reverse-distributing".
7. (x-1)x^2 + 10(x-1).
Well, this problem looks similar to ab + ac. Like a, the quantity (x-1) shows up in both terms.
Factor it out to get: (x-1)(x^2 + 10)
11. 2x^3 + 16x^2 + 30x
The common term here is 2x. If you factor it out, you get 2x(x^2 + 8x + 15). You can always verify your work by distributing the 2x back. You should, of course, get the same equation you started with (and you do).