How Do you do Factorising? Thankyou
-Jess
Assistance needed.
It'd help greatly if you followed directions and put your SUBJECT in the School Subject box. Then the right teacher would read your post sooner.
Until a math teacher comes online, one of these may help you:
http://www.purplemath.com/modules/factnumb.htm
http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/sets/mid_factornumb.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_2096921_do-factoring.html
Do you mean factoring? Pick out a problem that you need help with and post it.
To factorize an expression, you need to find its factors, which means breaking down the expression into its smaller parts. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to perform factorization:
Step 1: Identify common factors
Look for any common factors among the terms in the expression. A common factor is a number or variable that can be divided evenly into each term. For example, if you have the expression 2x + 4y, you can factor out the common factor 2: 2(x + 2y).
Step 2: Factor by grouping
If you have an expression with four or more terms, you can use the method of factor by grouping. Start by grouping the terms into pairs and find the common factor for each pair. Then, factor out the common factor from each pair, and look for common factors between the two pairs. Finally, factor out the common factor from these remaining terms.
Step 3: Factor quadratic expressions
For quadratic expressions in the form ax^2 + bx + c, you can use the method of factoring. This involves finding two binomial factors that multiply together to give the quadratic expression. You can do this by looking for two numbers that add up to the coefficient of the middle term (b) and multiply to give the constant term (c). Once you find these two numbers, you can rewrite the quadratic expression as two binomial factors.
Step 4: Special factorization cases
There are a few special cases to be aware of when factorizing. The first is the difference of squares, which applies when you have an expression in the form a^2 - b^2. This can be factored as (a - b)(a + b). The second case is perfect square trinomials, where the expression is of the form a^2 + 2ab + b^2 or a^2 - 2ab + b^2, which can be factored as (a + b)^2 or (a - b)^2, respectively.
Remember that practice is key when it comes to factorizing. The more you practice, the more you will become familiar with different techniques and common patterns.