Question

Factor completely 3ab(x + 1) − 2(x + 1)

How would i do this? Explian ?

Answer 1

note that (x + 1) is common to the 2 parts of the expression

Answer 2

I see subtraction in this expression. One term is to be subtracted from the other.
What are the two terms?
What do these two terms have in common?
Factor out the common factor.

Answer 3

if we take out (x + 1) what is left?

Answer 4

3ab-2 ?

Answer 5

Great. Now, please write the original expression in factored form.

Answer 6

It would be (x+1) (3ab-2)

Answer 7

thats correct

Answer 8

What if i have a trinomial equation? Would i do the same thing or is it a whole different process ?

Answer 9

lets say this is my equation

3x^2 + 2x − 1

What would i do ?

Answer 10

you could use a similar process as a part of factoring a binomial

Answer 11

ok take the first and last coefficients which are 3 and -1 ,
Note that 2x = 3x - x

so we can write 3x^2 + 3x - x - 1

now we can factor that by pairing in a similar way to the one in your original question

Any ideas?

Answer 12

Hint: What do the first 2 terms have in common?

Answer 13

Hint - place last 2 terms in parentheses

Answer 14

(3x-1) (x-1) ?

Answer 15

what's a sure-fire way to check your results?

Answer 16

not negative!

Answer 17

Distributiv property ?

Answer 18

Meaning what?

Answer 19

Ive got to check my equation by using distributive property

Answer 20

What action must you take to check your factors?
distrubutive property: yes. It's actually "Distributive Property of Multiplication."

Answer 21

3x-1) (x+1)

Answer 22

first multiply the x + 1 by 3x then do the same with -1
what do you get?

Answer 23

I got 4x(x+1)

Answer 24

youve gone wrong somewhere

Answer 25

the big question here is whether or not "what you got" is the same as the original expression which you were told to factor. Is it?

Answer 26

Please show each step of your multiplication: (3x-1) (x+1)