How do you factor special products of polynomials?

1 Answer

Look for numbers that are perfect squares or perfect cubes.
There are many special products in factoring. Three of the most well-known are
#(x+y)^2=x^2+2xy+y^2#
and
#(x−y)^2=x-2xy+y^2#
and
#(x+y)(x−y)=x^2−y^2#

Two less well-known ones are
#x^3+y^3=(x+y)(x^2−xy+y^2)#
and
#x^3−y^3=(x−y)(x^2+xy−y^2)#
Note that in an actual problem, x and y can be any number or variable. Hope this helped!