Question

Is it possible to factor `y=x^2+15x+36`? If so, what are the factors?

Answer 1

Factoring `y=x^2+15x+36` gives us `(x+3)(x+12)`

Explanation:

So to factor `y=(x^2+15x+36)`, we need to find values that give us the middle term as we know that x times x gives us `x^2` so that they be in both binomial. So let think of factors that gives us 36 but add up to 15.

6 x 6 = 36 | 6 + 6 = 12 - This set of numbers do not work
18 x 2 = 36 | 18 + 2 = 20 - This set of numbers do not work
12 x 3 = 36 | 12 + 3 = 15 - This set of numbers do work.

So we now can plug in numbers and since `y=x^2+15x+36` has positive values, we do not need to worry about if a number need to have a negative sign or not.

So factoring `y=x^2+15x+36` gives us `(x+3)(x+12)`