Mathway | Glossário de matemática

factoring strategy

1. Factor out the common factors.

2. If there’s an expression with two terms, try to identify it as one of these problem types, if possible:

a. Difference of two squares: $x^{2} - y^{2} = (x + y) (x - y)$ .

b. Sum of two cubes: $x^{3} + y^{3} = (x + y) (x^{2} - x y + y^{2})$ .

c. Difference of two cubes: $x^{3} - y^{3} = (x - y) (x^{2} + x y + y^{2})$ .

3. If an expression has four or more terms, try to factor it by grouping.

4. Factor the expression until each factor is prime, and check your final results by multiplying.