Question

How do you factor: `y=3x^3 - 8x^2 - x + 10`?

Answer 1

We find that y(2) = 0 when x = 2, then one factor is (x - 2).
After division and checking,
`y = (x - 2)(3x^2 - 2x - 5).`
The trinomial in parentheses can be factored.
Since (a - b + c = 0), use shortcut. One factor is (x + 1) and the other is `(x - 5/3)`
Finally,
`y = (x - 2)(x + 1)(x - 5/3)`