Cubic polynomial unable to be factored nicely

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    Cubic Polynomial
anniecvc
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Found this on a test for an integrated algebra 2 high school math class!

Factor completely.

6x3 - 3x2 + 12

The Attempt at a Solution



3( 2x3 - x2 + 4) eq.1

At this point I checked for rational roots using the rational roots theorem and synthetically dividing. I got nothing.

Although this doesn't get us anywhere x2 can be factored out of the first two terms:

3[ x2(2x-1) +4)] eq. 2

I then plugged this guy into Wolfram and it is giving me 1 nasty irrational and 2 nasty complex roots. I'm convinced this is NOT "nicely" factorable. Does anyone have any insights?
 
on Phys.org
You're correct that it can't be factorized using the rational root theorem, so as such, I wouldn't go any further with it. Since it was in a past exam, I'm sure it was a typo that they ended up correcting for the students on the day.
 

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