How to factor 9x2=25 ?

1 Answer
Feb 20, 2018

Assuming you mean #9x^2=25#:
#(3x+5)(3x-5)#

Explanation:

Assuming you mean #9x^2=25#:

Before we factor, we want to set this equal to zero. We can do that by subtracting 25 from both sides of the equation to get:

#9x^2-25=0#

It is important to realize that this is a difference of squares , as both terms in this equation are perfect squares. This will be in the form #(ax+b)(ax-b)#, where #a# will be the square root of #9x^2# and b will be the square root of #25#.

The square root of #9x^2# is #3x# and the square root of #25# is #+-5#. Thus, we can factor this as:

#(3x+5)(3x-5)#

If the term "difference of squares" seems foreign to you, I encourage you to Google it or even look it up on Khan Academy and get some practice at it.