Doubt in factoring a trinomial

  • Context:
  • Thread starter Thread starter mathlearn
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Doubt Factoring
Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
4 replies · 2K views
mathlearn
Messages
331
Reaction score
0
Hey (Wave) (Party),

Problem

Factor $3x^2+11x+10$

Workings

This expression can be separated into,

$3x^2+10x+x+10$

Where have i done wrong ? (Thinking)

Many Thanks :)
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
What I would do here is observe that:

$$3\cdot10=30$$

$$6\cdot5=30$$

$$6+5=11$$

Hence:

$$3x^2+11x+10=(3x+5)(x+2)$$
 
MarkFL said:
What I would do here is observe that:

$$3\cdot10=30$$

$$6\cdot5=30$$

$$6+5=11$$

Hence:

$$3x^2+11x+10=(3x+5)(x+2)$$

Did you multiply the expression by 3 (Happy) to get 30.
 
mathlearn said:
Did you multiply the expression by 3 (Happy) to get 30.

I multiplied the first coefficient by the last to get 30, and then looked for two factors of this product whose sum is 11, which are 6 and 5.

Here's a tutorial I wrote on the subject:

http://mathhelpboards.com/math-notes-49/factoring-quadratics-3396.html
 
Alternatively,

$$\begin{align*}3x^2+11x+10&=3x^2+5x+6x+10 \\
&=x(3x+5)+2(3x+5) \\
&=(3x+5)(x+2)\end{align*}$$