Question

Solve x^2 - 3x - 4 = 0 by factoring.

Answer 1

If you use the sum and product method, you should be able to figure it out very easily!
In this equation, -3 would be your sum and -4 would be your product.



What numbers will add to give you -3 yet multiply to give you a -4?
Well, (-4) + 1 will give you a -3 but multiply to give you a -4.



Basically, you just isolate the first and last two terms, then you can factor out what is common between them. (What's common between x^2 and x? x of course!)
When you do this, you should end up with (x+1) and (x-4)

Hope this helped!