Choosing a Strategy for Factoring a Polynomial
You have learned various strategies for factoring different polynomials but when given a random polynomial with a general instruction to factor it, where do you start?
STEP 1: Do all terms of the polynomial have a common factor? If yes, factor it out.
STEP 2: Consider the number of terms of the polynomial..
Trinomial
Four-Term Polynomial
STEP 3: Consider if any of the resultant factors can be factored further.
Summary
Practice Problems
Answer Key to Practice Problems