How do you factor #5x ^ { 8} - 35x ^ { 7} + 20x ^ { 6}#?

1 Answer
jim p.
Oct 16, 2017

see explanation

Explanation:

You can note that #5x^6# is a common factor in every term of the polynomial.

So you can rewrite:

#5x^6(x^2 - 7x + 4)#

I couldn't find further factorization of the 2nd degree polynomial, so I think you may be done at this point. Wolfram suggests one, but it's quite complicated:

#-1/4(-2x+sqrt(33)+7)(2x+sqrt(33)-7)#

...which I don't think is very helpful.

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