Question

8xy5 − 16x2y3 + 20x4y4

Answer 1

what are the directions for this problem?

Answer 2

im guessing remove the gcf

Answer 3

gfc?

Answer 4

greatest common factor

Answer 5

Ohh yeah im not that great in math so how would i do that?

Answer 6

does it say to simplify?

Answer 7

well, we are trying to figure out if this is the whole problem, or what you are actually needing to do!

Answer 8

It just says factor then gave me the problem

Answer 9

do you know what that means?

Answer 10

yes

Answer 11

ok, so show me where you get stuck so i know where to start! give it a shot?

Answer 12

Thats the point i dont know where ot start. i could solve it, i just have trouble starting it

Answer 13

can you solve this?
2(4+2)? but solve it by distributing the 2 across, and not doing the parenthesis first

Answer 14

8+4

Answer 15

so basically, what you gave me (a really simple version) is the question. What i gave you is the answer we are looking for in your particular problem!

Answer 16

you wanna pull as much stuff outside the parenthesis as you can

Answer 17

since these are all addition/subtraction it will end up looking exactly the same but with a number in front.
number(something - something + something)

Answer 18

9x2 + 15x what about this one then so would it be 9(x+2) + (15+x)?

Answer 19

1(8xy5 − 16x2y3 + 20x4y4) is what we have right now. the EASIEST thing i see we can pull out right away is the lowest power of x and y. can you rearrange this equation with the lowest powers of x and y pulled to the front of the parenthesis?

Answer 20

(9x^2 + 15x)
you can take an x out first
x(9x + 15)

Answer 21

-16x2y3+20x4y4+8xy5 ? & how did you do that?

Answer 22

but, you also can take a 3 out since they both are divisible by 3
3x(3x+5)

Answer 23

ah ok. i see where you are having issues now!

Answer 24

can you tell me what this is?
x(x+1)

Answer 25

x2+x

Answer 26

so... (x^2 + x) right?

Answer 27

now... simplify that by removing an x from each part on the inside and bringing it to the outside

Answer 28

it's basically doing the samething backwards

Answer 29

x^2(2)?

Answer 30

if you have (x^2 + x) and you bring an x to the front, you take away an x from each part on the inside.
\[x(x ^{2-1} + x ^{1-1})\]

Answer 31

which becomes.... x(x + 1) because anything to the 0 power equals 1.

Answer 32

another example here \[(xy ^{2} + 2x ^{2}y)\]

Answer 33

can you bring the x to the front?

Answer 34

just the x! dont worry about y right now. step by step.

Answer 35

its too hard i give up

Answer 36

aww. you can do it!
ok so, we move an x to the front!
x(stuff1 + stuff2)
the first stuff was xy^2 which is just like xyy. take away 1 x! what are you left with?

Answer 37

y^2

Answer 38

so we have now... x(y^2 + stuff2)
stuff 2 is 2x^2y.this is the same as 2xxy we only moved 1 x out so... take away one of those x's.

Answer 39

2xy right? because we got rid of an x by bringing it outside

Answer 40

now it's x(y^2 + 2xy) we simplified the x as best as we can because one of the STUFFs doesn't have an x anymore. now we do the y! see how there is at least one y in each of those? so lets put the y on the outside and take away 1 y from each of the inside stuffs!
xy(stuff1 + stuff2)
can you tell me now, what stuff 1 is and stuff 2?

Answer 41

xy(y+xy) ?

Answer 42

you are close! you just thought about stuff 2 the wrong way. you took away the 2 instead of a y. the second part was 2xy. if you take away 1 y you have 2x left over!

Answer 43

xy(y+2x) is what you meant

Answer 44

okaay