How do you factor the expression $-10x^2 - 23x - 12$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2016-01-08T17:04:39

The factorised form for the expression is

$=color(blue)((-5x-4)(2x +3)$

$-10x^2 -23x -12$

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:

$N_1*N_2 = a*c = (-10)*(-12) = 120$

AND

$N_1 +N_2 = b = -23$

After trying out a few numbers we get $N_1 = -15$ and $N_2 =-8$
$-15*-8 = 120$ , and $(-15)+(-8)= -23$

$-10x^2 -23x -12 = -10x^2 -15x-8x -12$

$=-5x(2x +3) -4(2x+3)$

$=color(blue)((-5x-4)(2x +3)$

How do you factor the expression -10x^2 - 23x - 12-10x^2 - 23x - 12?