Question

How do you factor `x^2 + 4x - 32`?

Answer 1

One cool way is to find to roots of the equation and then turn them into factors, as follows.

First, let's use Bhaskara to find the roots.

`(-4+-sqrt(16-4(1)(-32)))/2`
`(-4+-12)/2`
`x_1=-8`, which is the same as the factor `(x+8)=0`
`x_2=4`, which is the same as the factor `(x-4)=0`

Now, let's just rearrange them:

Answer: `(x+8)(x-4)`