How do you factor $3x^2-12$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2018-03-21T04:09:48

$3(x-2)(x+2)$

First, we find any like terms that we can factor out of the entire equation. In this case, we can factor out a three.

This gives us:
$3(x^2-4)$

We can simplify this even further using The Difference of Squares

$x^2-4 = 0$
$x^2 = 4$
$sqrt(x^2) = sqrt(4)$
$x = 4, -4$

Therefore the factors of $x^2-4$ are $(x-2)$ and $(x+2)$

Putting this all together, we get:

$3(x-2)(x+2)$ .

How do you factor 3x^2-123x^2-12?