SOLUTION: Please find all integers b for which a^2 + ba - 50 can be factored.

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Question 167220This question is from textbook Introductory Algebra
: Please find all integers b for which a^2 + ba - 50 can be factored. This question is from textbook Introductory Algebra

Found 2 solutions by vleith, Edwin McCravy:
Answer by vleith(2983)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
To solve this, find all the two pair factors of 50
50 * -1 and -50 * 1
25 * -2 and -25 * 2
5 * -10 and -5 * 10
For each pair, find the value of b that results from using that pair
Example (a + 50)(a -1) = a^2 +49a - 50 --> b=49
(a - 50)(a + 1) = a^2 -49a - 50 --> b=-49
Do the same for the other 4 pairs to find the other values of b

Answer by Edwin McCravy(20060)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Edwin's solution:
Please find all integers b for which can be factored.

The only ways to factor 50 into the product of
two integers are 1x50, 2x25, and 5x10,

Therefore any factorization of  must be one of these:

, so 
, so 
, so 
, so 
, so 
, so 

So there are 6 possible values for b.
They are

 ±49, ±23, ±5

Edwin

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