Question 260127: i dont understand how to factor 6x squared - 13x -8 = 0
Answer by dabanfield(803)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! i dont understand how to factor 6x squared - 13x -8 = 0
6x^2 - 13x - 8 = 0
The factors will look like
(?x - ?) * (?x + ?)
We know the signs of these two factors differ because the constant term (i.e. -8) is negative.
Our choices for the coefficients on the x term of each factor are factors of 6 (i.e. 1,6, 3, and 2) and for the constant term are factors of 8 (i.e. 1, 8, 4 and 2).
The combination of these factors must result in -13 when multipied together and their difference is calculated.
After experimenting we see that:
(3x - 8)*(2x + 1) gives us the correct result.
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