Question

factor out the greatest common factor: 7a(2a-b)+3a-b)

Answer 1

You are missing a ( somewhere!

Answer 2

7a(2-b)+3(3a-b)

Answer 3

Ok so first you distribute

Answer 4

i'm sorry its 7a(2a-b)+3(3a-b)

Answer 5

Ok so:

\[7a(2-b)+3(3a-b)\]

Answer 6

Distribute.

Answer 7

14a^-7b+9a-9b?

Answer 8

Perfect, so you now have :

\[14a - 7b + 9a - 9b\]

Answer 9

fyi really bad at this

Answer 10

Ok so now combine like terms.

Answer 11

23a-16b

Answer 12

Perfect :D

Answer 13

so is that the greatest common factor

Answer 14

Is this multiple choice?

Answer 15

no
just says factor out the greatest common factor

Answer 16

I'm so confused lol

Answer 17

Well tbh I don't know how to do that, I mean I can do the problem but I don't know how to get the GCF

Answer 18

me either lol

Answer 19

I am confused at this point because I factored the whole expression but what GCF do you need?

Answer 20

no clu

Answer 21

Yah well sorry, best I could do was factor the equation, best of luck :/

Answer 22

are you sure it's not 7a(2a-b) + 3(2a-b) ??

Answer 23

@jim_thompson5910 lets assume that it was, what would be the GCF? How do you determine the "greatest" when the values of a and b are unknown, just curious.

Answer 24

well if it was, then 2a-b would be a common factor between the two terms

since it's the most inclusive in terms of factors, we have considered so called the largest factor possible

Answer 25

so 2a-b would not only be a common factor, it would be the greatest common factor

Answer 26

Thanks, so it is the most inclusive of variables....

Answer 27

a better example would be this

7a(2a-b) + 3a(2a-b)

now 'a' is a common factor
so is (2a-b) is a common factor

put together, they form the greatest common factor

GCF: a(2a-b)

Answer 28

correct, gather as many common factors as you can