COMALGE Lecture - Factoring Completely June 10, 2013

We say that a polynomial p is completely factored if p is written in a way where each factor
can no longer be factor by ordinary means.

The following are the ordinary factoring techniques:

1. Factoring Greastest Common Monomial Factor ab + ac + ad = a(b + c + d).

This is basically undoing the distributive propertive of multiplication over addition. We
note that this is the first step in factoring polynomials completely. Examples:

(a) x(z + 3) + y(z + 3) = xm + ym = m(x + y) = (z + 3)(x + y)

(b) 12x2 y 3 z 4 − 6x4 y 3 z 3 + 6x2 y 3 z 2 = 6x2 y 3 z 2 (2z 2 − x2 z + 1)
(c) 5(x + y)2 − 10(x + y)3
= 5m2 − 10m3 = 5m2 (1 − 2m) = 5(x + y)2 (1 − 2(x + y)) = 5(x + y)2 (1 − 2x − 2y)

2. Factoring by Grouping.
The idea is to form groups out of the terms of the given polynomial. Factor each group
to produce a common monomial factor.

(a) 3x + ax + 3y + ay = (3x + ax) + (3y + ay) = x(3 + a) + y(3 + a) = (3 + a)(x + y)

(b) ax − ay − bx + by = (ax − ay) − (bx − by) = a(x − y) − b(x = y) = (x − y)(a − b)
(c) 2a2 −3bc−2ab+3ac = (2a2 −2ab)+(3ac−3bc) = 2a(a−b)+3c(a−b) = (a−b)(2a+3c)

3. Difference of Two Squares a2 − b2 = (a + b)(a − b)

(a) 9x2 y 2 − 64 = (3xy)2 − (8)2 = (3xy + 8)(3xy − 8)

(b) 4a2 −(3b+1)2 = (2a)2 −(3b+1)2 = [2a+(3b+1)][2a−(3b+1)] = (2a+3b+1)(2a−3b−1)
(c) 81(4x + y) − 49m2 (4x + y)3
= (4x + y)[81 − 49m2 (4x + y)2 ]
= (4x + y)[(9)2 − (7m(4x + y))2 ]
= (4x + y)[9 − 7m(4x + y)][9 + 7m(4x + y)]
= (4x + y)(9 − 28mx − 7my)(9 + 28mx + 7my)

4. Factoring Trinomials by Grouping

Consider the trinomial 12x2 + 7xy − 10y 2 . Multiply the leading coefficient with the last
coefficient. In this case we get 12 × −10 = −120. Choose a pair of factors of −120 whose
sum is the middle coefficient which is 7.
So we will choose −120 = 15 × −8 since 15 + (−8) = 7. Hence we will have

12x2 +15xy−8xy−10y 2 = (12x2 +15xy)−(8xy+10y 2 ) = 3x(4x+5y)−2y(4x+5y) = (4x+5y)(3x−2y).

(a) 2n3 + 6n2 + 4n = 2n(n2 + 3n + 2) = 2n(n2 + 2n + n + 2) = 2n[(n2 + 2n) + (n + 2)]

= 2n[n(n + 2) + 1(n + 2)] = 2n(n + 1)(n + 2)
(b) 3x4 y − 15x2 y − 108y
 (c) (x2 + 8x + 16) − 100y 4 = (x2 + 4x + 4x + 16) − 100y 4 = [(x2 + 4x) + (4x + 16)] − 100y 4
= [x(x + 4) + 4(x + 4)] − 100y 4 = (x + 4)(x + 4) − 100y 4
= (x + 4)2 − 100y 4
= (x + 4 − 10y 2 )(x + 4 + 10y 2 )

5. Factoring by Sum and Difference of Two Cubes: a3 + b3 = (a + b)(a2 − ab + b2 ) and

a3 − b3 = (a − b)(a2 + ab + b2 )

(a) 2x3 − 54 = 2(x3 − 27) = 2(x − 3)(x2 + 3x + 9)

(b) 4x3 − 32 = 4(x3 − 8) = 4(x − 2)(x2 + 2x + 4)
(c) x3a + y 6a = (xa + y a )(x2a − xa y a + y 2a )