Question

How do you factor `4y² +11y-3`?

Answer 1

`(4y-1)(y+3)`

Explanation:

Note 3 is a prime number so only has factors 3 and 1. 4 can have factors 2 and 2 or 4 and 1, therefore the factorisation will likely be of the form:

`(2y+-3)(2y+-1)`

or

`(4y+-(3,1))(y+-(3,1))`

In the second case by inspection we see that:

`4y^2+11y-3=(4y-1)(y+3)`