How do you factor the trinomial 3c^2 - 1c - 24 ?

1 Answer
May 4, 2016

color(green)((3c + 8) (c - 3) is the factorised form of the expression.

Explanation:

3c^2 - 1c - 24

We can Split the Middle Term of this expression to factorise it.

In this technique, if we have to factorise an expression like xa^2 + ya + z, we need to think of 2 numbers such that:

N_1*N_2 = x*z= 3*(-24) = -72

AND

N_1 +N_2 = y = -1

After trying out a few numbers we get N_1 = -9 and N_2 =8

(- 9)*8 = -72, and 8 + (-9)= -1

3c^2 - 1c - 24 = 3c^2 - 9c + 8c - 24

=3c (c - 3) + 8 (c - 3)

= color(green)((3c + 8) (c - 3)