How do you factor 8m² -34m -9 ?

1 Answer
May 17, 2015

8m^2- 34m - 98m234m9

We can Split the Middle Term of this expression to factorise it:

In this technique, if we have to factorise an expression like am^2 + bm + cam2+bm+c, we need to think of 2 numbers such that:

N_1*N_2 = axxc = 8xx(-9)= -72N1N2=a×c=8×(9)=72

And,

N_1 +N_2 = b = -34N1+N2=b=34

After trying out a few numbers we get N_1 = -36N1=36 and N_2 =2N2=2
(-36) xx 2 = -72(36)×2=72, and -36 +2 = -3436+2=34

8m^2- 34m - 9 = 8m^2- 36m + 2m - 98m234m9=8m236m+2m9

= 4m(2m - 9) + 1(2m - 9)=4m(2m9)+1(2m9)

= (4m + 1) (2m - 9) =(4m+1)(2m9)
color(green)((4m + 1) (2m - 9) )(4m+1)(2m9) is the Factorised form of 8m^2- 34m - 98m234m9