7: Factoring Expressions and Solving by Factoring
- Page ID
- 45065
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By the end of this chapter, the student should be able to
- Factor a greatest common factor
- Factor by grouping including rearranging terms
- Factor by applying special-product formulas
- Factor trinomials by using a general strategy including by substitution
- Solve equations and applications by factoring
After multiplying polynomials, we discuss rewriting polynomials in its factored form. There are many applications to factoring polynomials in algebra. The deeper into algebra, the factoring techniques we discuss in this chapter become more valuable. We use the factored form of polynomials to help solve equations, see behaviors of graphs, work with rational expressions, and more. In the next chapter, simplifying is solely dependent on factoring and the more efficient we are at factoring, the more efficient we will be at simplifying rational expressions.
- 7.3: Factoring trinomials of the form ax² + bx + c
- When factoring trinomials, we factored by grouping after we split the middle term. We continue to use this method for further factoring, like trinomials of the form ax² + bx + c, where a,b, and c are coefficients.