Chapter 4

Factoring
Polynomials

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Section 4.1

The Greatest
Common Factor
and Factoring by
Grouping
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Objectives
A. Find the Greatest Common Factor of a List of
Numbers.
B. Find the Greatest Common Factor of a List of
Terms.
C. Factor Out the Greatest Common Factor from
the Terms of a Polynomial.
D. Factor a Polynomial by Grouping.

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Factoring Polynomials
In the product 2 · 3 = 6, the numbers 2 and 3 are
called factors of 6 and 2 · 3 is a factored form of 6.

The process of writing a polynomial as a product is

called factoring the polynomial.

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Greatest Common Factor
Greatest common factor – largest quantity that is
a factor of all the integers or polynomials involved.

Finding the GCF of a List of Integers

Step 1: Write each number as a product of prime
numbers.
Step 2: Identify common prime factors.
Step 3: The product of all common prime factors
found in Step 2 is the greatest common
factor. If there are no common prime
factors, the greatest common factor is 1.

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Example 1
Find the GCF of each list of numbers.

a. 12 and 8
12 = 2 · 2 · 3
8=2·2·2
So the GCF is 2 · 2 = 4.

b. 7 and 20
7=1·7
20 = 2 · 2 · 5
There are no common prime factors so the GCF
is 1.
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Example 1
Find the GCF of each list of numbers.

c. 6, 8 and 46

6=2·3
8=2·2·2
46 = 2 · 23

So the GCF is 2.

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Example 2
Find the GCF of the list of terms.

x3 and x7

x3 = x · x · x
x7 = x · x · x · x · x · x · x
So the GCF is x · x · x = x3

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Great Common Factor
The greatest common factor (GCF) of a list of
terms is the product of the GCF of the numerical
coefficients and the GCF of the variable factors.

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Helpful Hint
Remember that the GCF of a list of terms contains
the smallest exponent on each common variable.

smallest exponent on x
smallest exponent on y

The GCF of x5y6, x6y3, and x4y6 is x4y3.

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Example 3
Find the greatest common factor of the list of terms.

a3b2, a2b5 and a4b7

a3b2 = a · a · a · b · b
a2b5 = a · a · b · b · b · b · b
a4b7 = a · a · a · a · b · b · b · b · b · b · b

So the GCF is a2b2

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Example 5
Factor: –6x3 – 9x2 + 12x

= 3x(–2x2) – 3x(3x) + 3x(4)

= 3x(–2x2 – 3x + 4)

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Examples 6 and 7
Factor.

a. 4x3 + 12x  4 x  x 2  3

2 5 4 3 1 2 1 2
b. a  a  a  a  2a 3  4a  1
5 5 5 5

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Example 9
Factor: 6(x + 2) – y(x + 2)

6(x + 2) – y(x + 2) = (x + 2)(6 – y)

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Factoring by Grouping
Once the GCF is factored out, we can sometimes
continue to factor the polynomial using a variety of
techniques. We discuss here a technique called
factoring by grouping. This technique can be used
to factor some polynomials with four terms.

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To Factor a Four-Term Polynomial
by Grouping

Step 1: Group the terms in two groups so that each

group has a common factor.
Step 2: Factor out the GCF from each group.
Step 3: If there is a common binomial factor, factor
it out.
Step 4: If not, rearrange the terms and try these
steps again.

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Example 12
Factor by grouping. 28 x3  7 x 2  12 x  3

3 2 3 2
28 x  7 x  12 x  3  (28 x  7 x )  (12 x  3)
 7 x 2 ( 4 x  1)  3(4 x  1)
2
 (4 x  1)(7 x  3)

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Example 13
Factor by grouping. 2a 2  5ab  2a  5b

2a 2  5ab  2a  5b  (2a 2  5ab)  (2a  5b)

 a (2a  5b)  1(2a  5b)

 (2a  5b)(a  1)

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Example 16
Factor by grouping. 3 xy  2  3 x  2 y

3xy  2  3x  2 y  (3xy  3x)  (2 y  2) rearrange terms

 3 x( y  1)  2( y  1)
 ( y  1)(3 x  2)

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 Another Example
Factor by grouping. 21x3y2 – 9x2y + 14xy – 6

21x3y2 – 9x2y + 14xy – 6 = (21x3y2 – 9x2y) + (14xy – 6)

= 3x2y(7xy – 3) + 2(7xy – 3)
= (7xy – 3)(3x2 + 2)

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