Factoring Polynomials

Directions: What numbers go in the blanks to make the equation true?

Hint

How would using a visual representation like algebra tiles or an array method make this easier to factor?

Answer

The first blank is 6 and the second blank is 2.

Source: Robert Kaplinsky

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4 comments

  1. This is High School? Then if they have a clue about algebra I would expect them to see this as a problem with 2 unknowns, call them A and B, multiply out the factors and solve the resulting equations. In fact by looking at the x cubed term it is “obvious” with this approach that the second number is 2. Anyway, the hint is odd as we have the factors already.

  2. I like this problem, especially if we use the area model for representing the distributive property of polynomial multiplication. We are about to start factoring this week, I may try this one!

    I’d love more examples of factoring questions like this! I didn’t see any more here but if you have another place to look, let me know. 🙂

    I took a stab at writing one, not sure how good it is though:

    Given 12x^2 + Ax + 20 = ( x + )( x + ), and using integers -9 to 9 at most once each, create a product where A is

    a) ODD
    b) EVEN
    c) as SMALL as possible
    d) as LARGE as possible

    I confess I haven’t tried it out myself but I thought it would be fun to try!

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