How do you factor out of the GCF of #36w^4-24w^3-48w^2#?

1 Answer
Jul 16, 2017

#GCF=12w^2#

#12w^2(3w^2-2w-4)#

Explanation:

To factorise expressions like

#36w^4-24w^3-48w^2#

look at the numbers and letters separately

1) find#" " GCF(36,24,48)#

#=12#

2) consider teh letters

#GCF(w^4,w^3,w^2)#

in such cases the #GCF # is the smallest power of the letter

i.e.

#GCF(w^4,w^3,w^2)=w^2#

If there other letters continue with the same process

so the #GCF# will be the product of all #GCFs#

in this case

#12w^2#

once this is established one can then factorise the expression

#12w^2(3w^2-2w-4)#