CW6.

07 Introduction to Factoring
Part 1: Explore
1. a) List all the positive whole number
factor pairs of 12 using a t-chart.

b) Explain why -2 and -6 are also a factor

pair of 12. What other negative factor
pairs are there for 12?

Fill out the following area models below and then write the factors you found.

6. Write a 2-3 sentence explanation for how you figured out each area model factors
above.
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

Part 2: Read to Learn

What is a factor?
Youve known since elementary school that numbers have factors, but did
you know that polynomials have factors too? Just like you can think about
what numbers multiply to give you 6, you can figure out what multiplies to
give you x2 + 4x + 3.
A factor is just a number that multiplies to give you something. For
example, we know that 2 x 3 = 6. We call the 2 and the 3 factors because
they multiply together to make 6.

We can also call the two polynomials that multiply to give us x 2 + 4x + 3

factors:

What does it mean to factor something? What is factoring?

When we factor something (or factorize if you live in England), we are
trying to find out what the factors are. Another way of saying this is that
when you factor something, you
are trying to un-multiply the
expression to find out what the
original factors are. So
Distribut
factoring is the opposite of
multiplying, distributing,
e
and expanding.
Multiply
Expand

Did you understand?

1. Mr. Vargas un-multiplied a trinomial and got the following: x 2 + 8x +
12 = (x + 6)(x + 2)

a. Identify the factors in Mr Vargas answer: _______ and

___________
b. Show that Mr. Vargas was correct by multiplying (x + 6)(x + 2)
using an area model:

2. Explain how factoring and multiplying are related.

________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

Part 3: Practice It!

1. Factor the trinomials below by using the area model to help you figure
out the two original factors.
a) x2 + 10x + 16 = ( x + ____ ) ( x +
____ )

x
+
8

x
x
2

8
x

b) x2 + 12x + 35 = (
)

)(

__
__x
1
6

c) x2 + 12x + 36 = _________________

e) x2 + 4x + 4 = ____________________

d) x2 + 30x + 200 =
__________________

f) x2 + 5x + 4 = ___________________

2. Mr. Benzel says that when you factor x2 + 5x + 6 you get (x + 5)(x + 1).
Explain what Mr Benzel did wrong! (It might help to draw an area model
and try the problem yourself!

3. Figure out the factors for the two trinomials below

What is the difference between the two problems? How are the factors
different?
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_____________________________________________________________________________
4. Try to factor the four problems below.

a) x2 8x + 15 =
__________________

b) x2 10x 24 =
_________________

c) x2 + 8x 20 =
__________________

CHALLENGE

d) x2 12x + 20 =
_________________