Question

How do i factor 8x^2y^3+4x^2y^2-2xy?

Answer 1

You want to find the HCF :)
So you can break this down by just looking at the numbers first: 8 , 4 and 2
What would the HCF of 2,4 and 8 be?

Answer 2

hint:
Factors of 2 = 1,2
Factors of 4 = 1, 2, 4
Factors of 8 = 1, 2 , 4 , 8

Answer 3

2

Answer 4

yess. So factorise out 2 and we get:
\[8x^2y^3+4x^2y^2-2xy\]
\[= 2 (4x^2 y^3 - 2x^2y^2 -xy) \]
Now look at the x's :)
We have x, x^2 and x^2

So what would be the HCF of those?
Note: factors of x = 1, x
Factors of x^2 = 1, x , x^2