Question

How do I factor a trinomial?

I can't remember.

Answer 1

can you provide an example problem?

Answer 2

oh did have one to go by? or did you want me to make up one?

Answer 3

phhh... a^2 – a – 20

Answer 4

ok find two numbers that

a) multiply to -20 (the last term)

AND

b) add to -1 (the coefficient of the middle term)

Answer 5

what do you mean by 1-2 ?

Answer 6

-5 and 4 are your two numbers since



-5 times 4 = -20

AND

-5 + 4 = -1

Answer 7

so a^2 - a - 20 factors to (a-5)(a+4)

Answer 8

so -5 * 4

Answer 9

Well A trinomial is a polynomial with 3 terms.. This page will focus on quadratic trinomials. The degree of a quadratic trinomial must be '2'. In other words, there must be an exponent of '2' and that exponent must be the greatest exponent.

Examples of Quadratic Trinomials:

3x² + 2x + 1
7x² + 4x + 4
5x² + 6x + 9


Non-Examples of Quadratic Trinomials:

3x3 + 2x + 1
this is not a quadratic trinomial because there is an exponent that is greater than 2
2x + 4
this is not a quadratic trinomial because there is not exponent of 2. In fact, this is not even a trinomial because there are 2 terms
5x3 + 6x2 + 9
this is not a quadratic trinomial because there is an exponent that is greater than 2

Answer 10

ok thanks, do those rules apply to all problems like this?

Answer 11

yes this is one trick you can use to factor

Answer 12

There are more?

Answer 13

yes, for instance you can graph and find the roots, then use the roots to factor

or you can complete the square to find the roots, then use the roots to factor

or you can use the quadratic formula (the best option in my opinion) to find the roots, then use the roots to factor

Answer 14

the discriminant in the quadratic formula can also be used to quickly find out if you can factor or not

If the discriminant is a positive perfect square, then you can factor

Otherwise, you can't factor

Answer 15

Thanks dude, this really helped.

Answer 16

sorry, just afk here for a bit