Question

How do you factor `12a^2 - 24a^3`?

Answer 1

`12a^2(1-2a)`

Explanation:

Let's take out common factors. First, we need to list out the factors.

`12a^2 = 12timesatimesa`

`24a^3= 24timesatimesatimesa`

Let look at what we can take out. Well `12` is a factor of both `12` and `24`, so let's pull out a `12`. We also see that both terms have at least two `a`s, so let's pull out two `a`s.

`12a^2(1-2a)` or `12(a)(a)(1-2a)`