Main content
Algebra 1
Course: Algebra 1 > Unit 13
Lesson 9: Strategy in factoring quadraticsFactoring quadratics in any form
Tie together everything you learned about quadratic factorization in order to factor various quadratic expressions of any form.
What you need to know for this lesson
The following factoring methods will be used in this lesson:
What you will learn in this lesson
In this article, you will practice putting these methods together to completely factor quadratic expressions of any form.
Intro: Review of factorization methods
Method | Example | When is it applicable? |
---|---|---|
Factoring out common factors | If each term in the polynomial shares a common factor. | |
The sum-product pattern | If the polynomial is of the form | |
The grouping method | If the polynomial is of the form | |
Perfect square trinomials | If the first and last terms are perfect squares and the middle term is twice the product of their square roots. | |
Difference of squares | If the expression represents a difference of squares. |
Putting it all together
In practice, you'll rarely be told what type of factoring method(s) to use when encountering a problem. So it's important that you develop some sort of checklist to use to help make the factoring process easier.
Here's one example of such a checklist, in which a series of questions is asked in order to determine how to factor the quadratic polynomial.
Factoring quadratic expressions
Before starting any factoring problem, it is helpful to write your expression in standard form.
Once this is the case, you can proceed to the following list of questions:
Question 1: Is there a common factor?
If no, move onto Question 2. If yes, factor out the GCF and continue to Question 2.
If no, move onto Question 2. If yes, factor out the GCF and continue to Question 2.
Factoring out the GCF is a very important step in the factoring process, as it makes the numbers smaller. This, in turn, makes it easier to recognize patterns!
Question 2: Is there a difference of squares (i.e. or )?
If a difference of squares pattern occurs, factor using the pattern . If not, move on to Question 3.
If a difference of squares pattern occurs, factor using the pattern
Question 3: Is there a perfect square trinomial (i.e. or )?
If a perfect square trinomial is present, factor using the pattern . If not, move on to Question 4.
If a perfect square trinomial is present, factor using the pattern
Question 4:
a.) Is there an expression of the form?
If no, move on to Question 5. If yes, move on to b).
b.) Are there factors ofthat sum to ?
If yes, then factor using the sum-product pattern. Otherwise, the quadratic expression cannot be factored further.
Question 5: Are there factors of that add up to ?
If you've gotten this far, the quadratic expression must be of the form where . If there are factors of that add up to , factor using the grouping method. If not, the quadratic expression cannot be factored further.
If you've gotten this far, the quadratic expression must be of the form
Following this checklist will help to ensure that you've factored the quadratic completely!
With this in mind, let's try a few examples.
Example 1: Factoring
Notice that the expression is already in standard form. We can proceed to the checklist.
Question 1: Is there a common factor?
Yes. The GCF of and is . We can factor this out as follows:
Yes. The GCF of
Question 2: Is there a difference of squares?
Yes. . We can use the difference of squares pattern to continue factoring the polynomial as shown below.
Yes.
There are no more quadratics in the expression. We have completely factored the polynomial.
In conclusion, .
Example 2: Factoring
The quadratic expression is again in standard form. Let's start the checklist!
Question 1: Is there a common factor?
No. The terms , and do not share a common factor. Next question.
No. The terms
Question 2: Is there a difference of squares?
No. There’s an -term so this cannot be a difference of squares. Next question.
No. There’s an
Question 3: Is there a perfect square trinomial?
Yes. The first term is a perfect square since , and the last term is a perfect square since . Also, the middle term is twice the product of the numbers that are squared since .
Yes. The first term is a perfect square since
We can use the perfect square trinomial pattern to factor the quadratic.
In conclusion, .
Example 3: Factoring
This quadratic expression is not currently in standard form. We can rewrite it as and then proceed through the checklist.
Question 1: Is there a common factor?
Yes. The GCF of , and is . We can factor this out as follows:
Yes. The GCF of
Question 2: Is there a difference of squares?
No. Next question.
No. Next question.
Question 3: Is there a perfect square trinomial?
No. Notice that is not a perfect square, so this cannot be a perfect square trinomial. Next question.
No. Notice that
Question 4a: Is there an expression of the form ?
Yes. The resulting quadratic, , is of this form.
Yes. The resulting quadratic,
Question 4b: Are there factors of that add up to ?
Yes. Specifically, there are factors of that add up to .
Yes. Specifically, there are factors of
Since and , we can continue to factor as follows:
In conclusion, .
Example 4: Factoring
Notice that this quadratic expression is already in standard form.
Question 1: Is there a common factor?
Yes. The GCF of , and is . We can factor this out as follows:
Yes. The GCF of
Question 2: Is there a difference of squares?
No. Next question.
No. Next question.
Question 3: Is there a perfect square trinomial?
No. Next question.
No. Next question.
Question 4a: Is there an expression of the form ?
No. The leading coefficient on the quadratic factor is . Next question.
No. The leading coefficient on the quadratic factor is
Question 5: Are there factors of that add up to ?
The resulting quadratic expression is , and so we want to find factors of that add up to .
The resulting quadratic expression is
Since and , the answer is yes.
We can now write the middle term as and use grouping to factor:
Check your understanding
Want to join the conversation?
- In number 5, where did the -4x+1x come from? -3x doesn't split up into -4x+1x and multiply out to -2. Help!(23 votes)
- Hi, ShadowFax5!
Be careful there: it does not have to multiply out to -2. You've missed a step. It has to multiply out to -4, since the leading term is 2 (different, thus, than 1) and it has to be multiplied by the last term -2, remember? Take a look at how I solved it:8x^2-12x-8
Factor out 4:4(2x-3x-2)
Leading term2
times last term-2
=-4
and middle term-3
. Find:A+B = -3
that is-4+1
A*B = -4
that is-4*1
Group it:4[(2x^2-4x)+(1x-2)]
Factor out the CGF of the groups:4[2x(x-2)+1(x-2)]
Regroup it by factoring out the (x-2):4(2x+1)(x-2)
There you have it.
Hope it helps and if someone find any error, please comment!
Cheers!(38 votes)
- i don't understand how the answer to the last question (#7) is 3(x^2 + 9)
isn't x^2 + 9 a sum of squares so shouldn't it be 3(x+3)^2 ?(7 votes)- 3(x+3)^2 isn't equivalent to x^2+9. The x^2+9 does look like a sum of squares at first, but to be that it would need to factor to (x+3)(x+3); (x+3)(x+3) FOILed is x^2+6x+9, not x^2+9.(11 votes)
- can there be no way to factor a problem?(4 votes)
- Yes some problems are un-factorable in the real domain. If you look at b^2 - 4ac, if this is positive you have 2 factors, if it is 0 you have one factor, and if it is negative, is does not have factors in real domain. The first crosses x axis at two places, the second has the vertex on the x-axis, and the third has the vertex above if open upward or below if open downward and never crosses the x axis.(11 votes)
- I'm struggling so hard with this. I watched every video, read this whole article, thought I understood everything, spent 5 hours studying and doing all the practices until I got 100% on them, but once I read this article and tried to do the practice questions without just being told which method to use upfront I suddenly just can't do anything beyond factoring out the GCF. I could only get 1/7 practice questions on this article right and I'm so frustrated I just want to cry. Does anyone have advice because I just want to give up.(3 votes)
- Don't give up! Just remember that once you have tried factoring out the GCF, u need to check these things:
1. Is there a difference of squares?
2. Is there a perfect square trinomial?
3. a.) Is there an expression of the form x^2 + bx + c?
b.) If so, R there factors of c that sum to b?
4. If you've gotten this far, the quadratic expression must be of the form ax^2 + bx + c where a≠1. If there are factors of ac that add up to b, factor using the grouping method.
If there is anything specific u don't understand then I recommend going to previous videos and watching them thoroughly - they should help and I often go back to them bc it is hard to keep up with everything and remember it all.
Just remember that the five question method in this article works for ANY quadratic expressions.
If u need any more help u can ask me :D
Hope this helps.(4 votes)
- Is a 4th dimensional graph a thing?(4 votes)
- It is, but very hard too graph and not encountered that much (if at all) in real life.(2 votes)
- So, question 6 says to factor 56-18x+x^2 completely. After placing in standard form: x^2 -18X +56, the next step should be to find the GCF. 2( x^2 -9x + 28). After this, there is no a+b=-9 and a * b = 28. Factors of 28 are 1,28, 2, 14, 4, 7. So none of them work. However, apparently, when I asked for the help, they just skipped right past the GCF that they had taught us to try first and went right on to the sum/product step. Does anyone else feel confused about this?(1 vote)
- The polynomial has no common factor other than 1. In order for there to have been a common factor of 2, the problem would have been: 2x^2-18x+56.
Yes, you should always look for a GCF. But all terms need to be evenly divisible by the value you pick. x^2 does not divide evenly by 2 in your problem, so the GCF=1 and there is no need to factor out a GCF.
Hope this help.s(6 votes)
- is there any classes that explain this minus the exponents?(3 votes)
- Quadratics have an exponent of 2. So, I'm not aware of any lessons what would explain it with out using an exponent.(1 vote)
- Is there a perfect square trinomial?(3 votes)
- Yes... there is a perfect square trinomial. You can find lessons on it at these links:
1) Multiplying to create a perfect square trinomial:
-- https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra-home/alg-polynomials/alg-special-products-of-polynomials/v/pattern-for-squaring-simple-binomials
-- https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra-home/alg-polynomials/alg-special-products-of-polynomials/v/square-a-binomial
2) Factoring a perfect square trinomial: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra-home/alg-polynomials/alg-factoring-quadratics-perfect-squares/v/factoring-perfect-square-trinomials(1 vote)
- What does "A sum of squares is never factorable over the real numbers," mean?(2 votes)
- If you have a binomial like x^2+9, you have a sum of 2 squares. This binomial is not factorable using real numbers.
Treat x^2+9 as x^2+0x+9. Try to find factors of 9 that add to 0. They don't exist.
In higher level math, you learn that it can be factored using complex numbers.(3 votes)
- I noticed that the formula x^2 + (a+b)x + ab doesn't make an appearance here from the Factoring simple quadratics review article but formula x^2 + 2abx + b^2 does. I'm studying for the unit test in the Algebra basics course but cannot figure out which formula applies when factoring. Does it have to do with when the x terms and constant term aren't perfect squares or when the x^2 term is not equal to 1? Thanks in advance.(2 votes)
x^2 (a+b)x + ab
is the general rule for factorising, basically signifying that you find 2 numbers a and b which add to the coefficient of x and multiply to the constant term, to factorise to(x + a)(x + b) = 0
.x^2 + 2bx + b^2
(notx^2 + 2abx + b^2
) is the expansion of (x + b)^2, a perfect square; this is a certain situation in factorising where it's a perfect square. It is useful to know for factoring but is most important in the completing the square method.(2 votes)