FACTORING POLYNOMIALS
1) First determine if a common monomial factor (Greatest Common Factor) exists. Factor trees may be used to find the
GCF of difficult numbers. Be aware of opposites: Ex. (a-b) and (b-a) These may become the same by factoring -1
from one of them.
3 12 3 4
3 3
6 6
2) If the problem to be factored is a binomial, see if it fits one of the following situations.
A. Difference of two squares:
9 25 3 5 3 5
25 5 5 5 5
B. Sum of two squares:
does not factor (it is prime).
C. Sum of two cubes:
8 27 2 3 4 6 9
Note: Resulting trinomial does not factor.
D. Difference of two cubes:
64 4 4 16
Note: Resulting trinomial does not factor.
E. If none of these occur, the binomial does not factor.
3) If the problem is a trinomial, check for one of the following possibilities.
A. Square of a binomial:
2
6 9 3 3 3
4 20 25 2 5
B. If 1, use reverse foil or trial and error method:
7 12 3 4
7 12 3 4
3 18 6 3
3 18 6 3
C. If 1, use trial and error method. (Grouping may also be used.)
4) If factoring a polynomial with four terms, possible choices are below.
A. Group first two terms together and last two terms together.
5 5 5 5 5 5
3 2 6 3 2 6 3 2 3 3 2
B. Group first three terms together.
6 9 6 9 3 3 3 3 3
C. Group last three terms together.
6 9 6 9 3 3 3 3 3
BE SURE YOUR ANSWERS WILL NOT FACTOR FURTHER!
All answers may be checked by multiplication.
PRACTICE PROBLEMS:
1. 9 21. 3 10
2. 5 15 22. 5 84
3. 12 20 8 16 23. 8 16 28
4. 36 24. 12 31 20
5. 25 25. 6 7 10
6. 4 49 26. 8 6 9
7. 100 27. 6 2
8. 9 28. 2 14 20
9. 8 29. 2 2
10. 64 30.
11. 27 31. 8 8
12. 5 40
32. 25 3 75
13. 2 128 33. 16 2
14. 64 34. 2 6 3
15. 10 25 35. 6 23 20
16. 4 16 16 36. 9 15 4
17. 16 56 49 37. 8! 6! 9
18. 20 4 25 38. 25 10
19. 9 20 39. 16 "
20. 2 16 32 40.
ANSWERS:
1. 9 2. 5 3 3. 43 5 2 4 4. 6 6
5. 5 5 6. 2 7 2 7 7. 10 10
8. 3 3 9. 2 2 4 10. 4 1 16 4 1
11. 3 3 9 12. 5 2 2 4 13. 2 4 4 16
14. 2 2 4 2 2 4 15. 5 16. 4 2 17. 4 7
18. 5 2 19. 5 4 20. 2 4 21. 5 2 22. 12 7
23. 42 1 4 24. 4 5 3 4 25. 2 6 5 26. 4 3 2 3
27. 3 2 2 1 28. 2 5 2 29. 1 2 30. 1 1
31. 8 1 1 32. 3 5 5 33. 4 4
34. 2 3 35. 3 4 2 5 36. 3 1 3 4 37. 4! 3 2! 3
38. 5 or 5 39. 4 " 2 " 2 " 40.
MORE PRACTICE PROBLEMS:
41. 6 16 61. 4 1 4
42. 10 24 62. 15 12 29
43. 3 2 63. 8# 2# 3
44. 3 2 64. 35 3 20
45. 30 65. 25 8 30
46. 7 8 66. 12 3 13
47. 2 67. 9 27 20
48. 5 6 68. 25$ 15$ 18
49. 10 16 69. 12% 4% 5
50. 72 70. 5& 3& 4
51. 8 9 71. 4 15 16
52. 2 48 72. 20 6 23
53. 13 42 73. 6 19 10
54. 8 12 74. 35 13 4
55. 4 8 12 75. 50 10 12
56. 2 2 4 76. 30 25 30
57. 2 4 6 77. 18 18 20
58. 3 6 9 78. 3 22 7
59. 5 35 50 79. 15 18 24
60. 3 18 21 80. 4 25 6
ANSWERS:
41. 8 2 42. 6 4 43. 2 1 44. 2 1
45. 6 5 46. 8 1 47. 2 1 48. 3 2
49. 8 2 50. 9 8 51. 9 1 52. 8 6
53. 7 6 54. 6 2 55. 4 3 1 56. 2 2 1
57. 2 3 1 58. 3 3 1 59. 5 5 2 60. 3 7 1 61.
2 1 62. 3 4 5 3 63. 2# 1 4# 3 64. 5 4 7 5
65. 5 4 5 2 66. 3 1 4 3 67. 3 5 3 4 68. 5$ 3 5$ 6 69.
2% 1 6% 5 70. '#(!) *++, ) %-,#). 71. 2 3 2 5
72. 5 2 4 3 73. 2 5 3 2 74. 7 4 5 1
75. 25 3 5 2 76. 52 3 3 2 77. 23 5 3 2
78. 3 1 7 79. 35 4 2 80. 4 1 6
MORE PRACTICE PROBLEMS:
81. 125 1 101. 5 2 3
82. " 64 102. 343
83. 12 36 103. 40 28 48
84. 8 48 104. 3 5- .
85. 7 12 105. 8- 125.
86. 25 8 106. 81 18& &
87. 3 7 3 4 107. 10 25
88. 6 12 6 108. & " & "
89. 11 18 109. 5 36
90. 40 3 110. 11 42
91. 3 12 111. 7 7
92. 250 2 112. 216
93. 7 7& 113. 81 18
5 14
94. 2 5 12 114.
95. 24 7 5 115. 10 21
96. 14 32 116. 9 25
97. 0.04" 0.28" 0.49 117. 105 8
98. 4 40 64 118. 3 2
99. 64 27 119. 6 48
100.
0
120. 14 49
0
ANSWERS:
81. 5 1 25 5 1 82. " 8 " 8 83. 6 84. 12 4
85. 4 3 86. '#(!) *++, ) %-,#). 87. 3 2 3
88. 6 1 89. 9 2 90. 8 5 91. 3 4
92. 25 1 25 5 1 93. 7 & & & 94. 2 3 4
95. 8 5 3 1 96. 2 16 97. 0.2" 0.7 98. 4 2 8
0 0
99. 4 3 16 12 9 100. 12 3 12 3 101. '#(!) *++, ) %-,#). 102.
7 7 49 103. 42 3 5 4 104. 3 5- .
105. 2- 5. 4- 10- . 25. 106. 9 & 107. 5
108. & " 109. 4 9 110. 14 3 111. 7
112. 6 36 6 113. 9 114. 7 2 115. 3 7 116.
3 5 3 5 117. 7 15 118. '#(!) *++, ) %-,#).
119. 6 2 2 4 120. 7
121. 3 34 24 131. 0.6 0.09
122. 8 16 132. 4 13 35
123. 121 133. 125 81
124. 42 134. 49 14
125. 9 24 16 135. 40 7 3
0
126. 136. 15" 15" 90
137. 0.04 0.49
127. 10" 29" 21
138. 7 18
128. 16 54 7
129. 27 30 8
139. 2 54
0
130. 1 140. 5 25
ANSWERS:
121. 12 3 2 122. 4
0 0 0
123. 11 11 124. 7 6 125. 3 4 126. 1 3 1
3
127. 5" 3 2" 7 128. 2 7 8 1 129. 9 2 3 4
130. 1 1 1 1 131. 0.3 132. 5 4 7
133. '#(!) *++, ) %-,#). 134. 7 1 135. 8 3 5 1
136. 15" 2 " 3 137. 0.2 0.7 0.2 0.7 138. 2 9
0
139. 2 3 3 9
140. 1 53
