Factor Completely: x^2+9x-22 ?

1 Answer
Mar 16, 2018

#(x+11)(x-2)#

Explanation:

When factoring, we need to find two numbers that add to make the second number of #9# and multiply to make the second number of #-22#.

I usually start out by listing the factors...
#22# and #1# cannot make 9
#11 and 2# can make 9 so we'll use this.

As you should know, a #- xx +=-# so one number should be negative, one positive. As you can work out:

#-11+2=-9#, therefore, it won't work...
#-2+11=9#, therefore, this will work...

Then we can place these numbers in brackets

#-> (x+11)(x-2)#