How do you factor the trinomial $x^2-xy-12y^2$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2016-01-02T12:51:54

Split $12$ into two factors that differ by $1$ to find:

$x^2-xy-12y^2 = (x-4y)(x+3y)$

Because this is a homogeneous polynomial of degree $2$ ,
this is essentially the same problem as factoring $t^2-t-12$

Split $12$ into two factors which differ by $1$ . The pair $4, 3$ works.

Hence:

$x^2-xy-12y^2 = (x-4y)(x+3y)$

How do you factor the trinomial x^2-xy-12y^2x^2-xy-12y^2?