How do you factorise quadratic equations with more than 1x squared?

Answer 1

Other than the Quadratic Formula, there are two ways to solve a quadratic with a coefficient of more than 1 in the x2 term.

First, you can divide all terms by a common multiple if they have one, e.g.

2x2 + 10x + 12 can be divided by 2 to get x2 + 5x + 6, which factorises easily. If this doesn't work, then it's fine to skip straight to harder factorising.

First, multiply the final term by the coefficient of the x2 term.

e.g. for 3x2 + 4x - 7, multiply the -7 by the 3 to get -21.

Next, find which two numbers will multiply to get -21 and add to get 4, in this case 7 and -3.

Then, arrange the equation like this: (3x2 -3x) + (7x -7) , with the x coefficients matching up to the easiest number to divide by (this equation is easy, 3 matches with -3 and 7 matches with -7).

Factorise: 3x(x-1) +7(x-1)

Simplify: (3x+7)(x-1) Complete. Hope this helps.