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

1 Answer
May 28, 2015

x^2+4x - 32

We can Split the Middle Term of this expression to factorise it
In this technique, if we have to factorise an expression like ax^2 + bx + c, we need to think of 2 numbers such that:

N_1*N_2 = a*c = 1*(-32) = -32
and,
N_1 +N_2 = b = 4
After trying out a few numbers we get N_1 = 8 and N_2 =-4
8*(-4) = -32, and 8+(-4)= 4

x^2+4x - 32 = x^2+8x - 4x - 32
x(x+8) -4(x+8)
color(green)((x-4)(x+8)