How do you factor the trinomial $m^2-15m+50$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2017-01-21T13:56:25

$m^2-15m+50 = (m-10)(m-5)$

In general note that:

$(m-a)(m-b) = m^2-(a+b)m+ab$

So if you are faced with the task of factoring a monic polynomial like:

$m^2-15m+50$

you can look for a pair of factors of $50$ with sum $15$ .

We find $10xx5 = 50$ and $10+5=15$

So:

$m^2-15m+50 = (m-10)(m-5)$

How do you factor the trinomial m^2-15m+50m^2-15m+50?