SOLUTION: What are the steps in 72x^8-24x^2 (Factor out the greatest common factor from the expression

Question 596629: What are the steps in 72x^8-24x^2 (Factor out the greatest common factor from the expression
Answer by jsmallt9(3758) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

If you have trouble figuring out a GCF, it can help if you factor the coefficients down to primes and write the variables without exponents:
2*2*2*3*3*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x - 2*2*2*3*x*x

Looking at it this way we can see that what is common between the two sets of factors are:
three 2's, one 3 and two x's = 2*2*2*3*x*x =

This is what we will factor out from each set of factors. We can see that after we factor this out from the first set of terms we will have one 3 and six x's = 32*X*X*X*X*X*X = remaining. For the second set of factors it looks like factoring out 2*2*2*3*x*x that there would be nothing left. But 1 is a factor of everything, even though we don't always write it. So a 1 will remain.

So here is how your expression factors:

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