Question

How do you factor `xy - 3x - 8y + 24`?

Answer 1

The factors of the first term `x,y` are `x` and `y`
So if we can factor `xy-3x-8y+24`
the most likely form will be
`(x+a)(y+b) = xy +bx +ay +ab`

by inspection
`a = -8`
and `b=-3`

so
`xy-3x-8y+24 = (x-8)(x-3)`