How do you write $x^2+8x+12$ in factored form?

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Answer 1 · 2015-09-16T16:06:35

$color(blue)((x+2)(x+6)$ is the factorised

$x^2+8x+12$

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:

$N_1*N_2 = a*c = 2*6 = 12$
and
$N_1 +N_2 = b = 8$

After trying out a few numbers we get $N_1 = 2$ and $N_2 =6$
$2*6 = 12$ and $2+ 6 = 8$

$x^2+8x+12 = x^2+6x+2x+12$

$=x(x+6) +2(x+6)$

$color(blue)((x+2)(x+6)$ is the factorised form of the exam.

How do you write x^2+8x+12x^2+8x+12 in factored form?