How do you factor - 6t - 16+ t ^ { 2}?

2 Answers
May 17, 2018

(t-8)(t+2)

Explanation:

We can rewrite this as t^2-6t-16

We are looking for two numbers that sum to make -6 and multiply to make -16

Naturally, these are -8 and 2

So we factor this as:

t^2-8t+2t-16

t(t-8)+2(t-8)

(t-8)(t+2)

May 17, 2018

take t^2-6t-16

find factors of the c constant, -16, which add up to -6.

this gives us -8 and 2, since -8+2 is -6.

replace -6t with the 2 values, such that:

t^2-8t+2t-16

thus factorizing just the first 2 terms, and the next 2 terms give you identical expressions inside the parenthesizes.

thus giving

t(t-8)+2(t-8)

the things not in the brackets can be collected up to give
(t+2)(t-8)