Question

How do I factor 50x^17 + 75x^12 ?

Answer 1

They both have a common factor of 25x^12.

So you will get 25x^12 ( 2x^5 + 3)

Answer 2

Could you explain how to get that

Answer 3

The greatest common factor of 50 and 75 is 25. If you don't see this right away, you should be able to pull out a 5 and be left with 5 and 15. Then you can pull out another 5, making it 25.

For the x^12 and x^17, you should see that you can pull out an x^12 out of each one.

Answer 4

I'm sorry, pull out a 5, you are left with 10 and 15, not 5 and 15. But the same idea still applies.

Answer 5

I get that 25 goes into 50 and 75 but I don't know what to do about the exponents