How do you factor 6x² - x - 2?

Question

How do you factor 6x² - x - 2?

1 Answer

Impact of this question

47359 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2015-05-26T22:55:41

Let's use the AC Method.

First multiply the coefficient ( $A = 6$ $A=6$ ) of the $x^{2}$ $x^2$ term by the coefficient ( $C = 2$ $C=2$ ) of the constant term - ignoring the sign.

$A C = 6 \cdot 2 = 12$ $AC = 6*2 = 12$

Notice that the sign of the constant ( $C$ $C$ ) term is negative.

According to the AC Method, we need to look for a factorisation of our $A C$ $AC$ value into a pair of factors, whose difference is the middle coefficient $B = 1$ $B=1$ . Well $4 \times 3 = 12$ $4 xx 3 = 12$ and $4 - 3 = 1$ $4 - 3 = 1$ . So the pair we want is $4$ $4$ and $3$ $3$ .

Now use this pair to split the middle term then factor by grouping:

$6 x^{2} - x - 2 = 6 x^{2} - 4 x + 3 x - 2$ $6x^2-x-2 = 6x^2-4x+3x-2$

$= (6 x^{2} - 4 x) + (3 x - 2)$ $= (6x^2-4x)+(3x-2)$

$= 2 x (3 x - 2) + (3 x - 2)$ $=2x(3x-2)+(3x-2)$

$= (2 x - 1) (3 x - 2)$ $=(2x-1)(3x-2)$

Science

Math

Humanities

... and beyond

How do you factor 6x² - x - 2?

1 Answer

Related questions

Impact of this question