Factor x^(2n) + 5x^n - 24. Can somebody just help me to get started on this? I'm not sure where to begin...

Question

anonymous · Answer

x^n(x^n + 5) - 24, start from here

msmr · Answer

How did you get that?

anonymous · Answer

wait u can do this
x^2n + 8x^n - 3x^n - 24
x^n(x^n + 8) - 3(x^n + 8)
(x^n - 3)(x^n + 8)

anonymous · Answer

so x^n = -8 or 3. Then you need to figure out something from nth root, which I am not sure about.

asnaseer · Answer

this is basically a hidden quadratic equation

asnaseer · Answer

use the substitution: $y=x^n$ to get a standard quadratic

msmr · Answer

@Kanwar245 thank you! all we had to do was factor it into (x^n - 3)(x^n + 8). 
@asnaseer that's a good way to look at it, I'll try that and make sure i understand it completely.

thank you!

asnaseer · Answer

yw :)