Question

Factor completely: 10x^5 + 4x^4 + 8x^3

Answer 1

If you notice that all three terms have a common factor, it makes this problem much simpler.

Answer 2

2x^3(5x^2 + 2x + 4) is this the answer then ?

Answer 3

find the gcf = 2x^3
divide each term by this to get factor in parentheses

Answer 4

yea

Answer 5

okay thank you

Answer 6

yw

Answer 7

Very good =) That's the first step. Can it be factored further? Not sure yet.

Answer 8

i was wondering that too - don't think so

Answer 9

So you can try factoring it further, but this one is hard to tell without some work whether or not it is factorable.
What I did is just used the quadratic formula on it. It has two complex roots, which means it's not factorable.

Answer 10

And if you get real rational roots, then you can write factors from those.

Answer 11

so i was wrong?

Answer 12

Haha no you nailed it. Just know that even though that is your first step, sometimes you will be able to factor it further.

Answer 13

ohh, okay thanks(:

Answer 14

yw

Answer 15

My pleasure! =D