FACTORING WORKSHEET

Topic Procedure Examples

Common factor Factor out the largest common 2 2 2 1
factor from each term. 3 3 12 3 4
8 24 8 3
Special cases If you recognize the special cases,
you will be able to factor quickly.
Two terms
Difference of squares 25 36 5 6 5 6
16 1 4 1 2 1 2 1

Sum of cubes 8 125 2 5 4 10 25

Difference of cubes 27 1 3 1 9 3 1

Three terms
Perfect-square trinomials 2 25 10 1 5 1
2 49 42 9 7 3
Trinomials of the form Factor by finding two numbers that 18 77 7 11
multiply to c and add to b. 7 18 9 2

If each term of the trinomial has a 5 10 40 5 2 8

common factor, factor it out as the 5 4 2
first step.
Trinomials of the form Factor trinomials of the 6 11 10
, where form by the Grouping number 60
grouping number method or by the Two numbers whose product is -60 and whose sum is
trial and error method. +11 are +15 and -4.
6 15 4 10 3 2 5 2 2 5
2 5 3 2
Four terms Rearrange the terms if necessary so
Factor by grouping that the first two terms have a 2 21 3 14
common factor. Then factor out 2 14 3 21
the common factors. 2 7 3 7
7 2 3

Prime polynomials A polynomial that is not factorable is prime

Multistep factoring
is called prime. 5 7 is prime
Many problems require two or 3 21 36 3 7 12
three steps of factoring. Always try 3 4 3
to factor out the greatest common
factor as the first step. 2 6 2 6
2 3 2

25 49 25 49
5 7 5 7

8 24 18 2 4 12 9
2 2 3
Solving quadratic equations 1. Write as 0 Solve: 3 5 2
by factoring 2. Factor. 3 5 2 0
3. Set each factor equal to 0. 3 1 2 0
4. Solve the resulting equations. 3 1 0 or 2 0
1/3 or 2
Google Drive: FACTORING_handout_mcs1, May 2018