Question

How do you factor the expression `-216x^3 +1`?

Answer 1

First notice that you can rewrite this as

`(1-(6x)^3)`

hence using the identity

`a^3-b^3=(a-b)*(a^2+ab+b^2)`

we have that

`1-216x^3=1-(6x)^3=(1-6x)*(1+6x+36x^2)`