Question

what are factors in algebra and how do you do them?

Answer 1

let us first take the case of numbers...
What r the factors of 12
we can write 12 as 2x2x3

Answer 2

Here say 2, 2 and 3 are factors of 12 i.e 12 can be expressed as their product

Answer 3

Factoring something means taking a common multiple out of it. In intro algebra, factoring a polynomial is used to find the roots (solutions). For example, in the polynomial x^2 + 5x + 6, you can factor it into (x + 2)(x + 3). The easy way to factor a simple quadratic polynomial like x^2 + ax + b is figure out two numbers that multiplied together give you b, and added together give you a. So in my first example, that's 2 and 3, because 2*3 = 6 and 2 + 3 = 5.

Answer 4

similarly in algebra we can express a polynomial as a product of some small "pieces" whose product results in the given polynomial

Answer 5

eg

2x^2 + 5x can be shown to b product of x and (2x + 5) so x and (2x+5) are factors of 2x^2 + 5x

Answer 6

as hickninja pointed out
factos r used to find the zeros or roots of a given polynomial.....

Answer 7

factors are what a number breaks down into, multiplication-wise

the factors of 6 are;

1,6
2,3
3,2
6,1

the factors of 6 are then {1,2,3,6}