How do you factor #6x^3-48#?

Question

1272 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2018-05-03T23:31:39

#6(x-2)(x^2 + 2x + 4)#

To factor, we have to find the GCF, or Greatest Common Factor. This means the largest factor that both expressions have.

Therefore, the GCF is #6#. So when we factor it becomes:
#6(x^3 - 8)#

We can still factor this further.

#(x^3 - 8)# is in the form #a^3 - b^3#, which factors down to #(a-b)(a^2 + ab + b^2)#

Therefore, that becomes:
#(x-2)(x^2 + 2x + 4)#

So the completely factored answer is:
#6(x-2)(x^2 + 2x + 4)#

Hope this helps!