
Handle any emergency with Howcast's First Aid app - howc.stExpand the description and view the text of the steps for this how-to video. Check out Howcast for other do-it-yourself videos from stevenkittinger and more videos in the Mathematics Tests category. You can contribute too! Create your own DIY guide at www.howcast.com or produce your own Howcast spots with the Howcast Filmmakers Program at www.howcast.com Factoring is the opposite of distributing. If you can find a common factor, you can reduce an expression. To complete this How-To you will need: A polynomial A pencil Paper Step 1: Find the greatest common factor Look at the expression and find the greatest common factor for each term. For the expression 2×2 + 4x, both terms contain factors of 2 and factors of x. Step 2: Factor out greatest common factor Remove the largest factors common shared by each term -- 2 and x -- and place them outside a set of empty parentheses. Step 3: Determine what GCF is multiplied with Determine the greatest common factor of each term of the expression. In the example, it's 2×. Then, determine what it is multiplied with to equal the original two terms and place those terms inside the parentheses. 2x times x equals 2×2, and 2x times 2 equals 4×. Tip: Remember the distributive law ab + ac = a(b + c). Step 4: Find the difference of squares Finding the difference of two squares is another type of factoring. In the expression x2 -- 4, x2 is the square of x and 4 is the square of 2. Step 5 <b>...</b>
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