SOLUTION: Please help in explaining the differences in factoring 3a^2-12a and factoring 4a^2-16. I am not sure where to start so any help would be great. Thanks so much.

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Question 25044: Please help in explaining the differences in factoring
3a^2-12a and factoring 4a^2-16.
I am not sure where to start so any help would be great. Thanks so much.
Answer by stanbon(75887) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Look at 3a^2-12a.
The 1st thing you look for in factoring is a common factor.
Bothe terms of your problem have a factor of 3 and a factor of "a".
So you factor out the common factor of 3a to get;
3a(a-4)
You cannot factor this further.
Look at 4a^2-16
The common factor is "4", so you get the following:
4(a^2-4)
The 2nd thing you look for in factoring is the difference
of squares. You have that in the expression x^2-4.
So you must factor futher and get the following:
4(a-2)(a+2)
You cannot factor this further.
Cheers,
Stan H.