Question

How do you factor `2x^3 + 10x^2 + 4x + 20`?

Answer 1

`2(x+5)(x^2 + 2)`

Explanation:

There are 4 terms and there is a common factor of 2 in all of them. We can also group the term in pairs to create other common factors:

`(2x^3 + 10x^2) + (4x + 20)`

=`2x^2(x +5) + 4(x +5)" "`
We now have a common bracket and a common factor of 2

=`2(x+5)(x^2 + 2)`