SOLUTION: Factor {{{s^2+18s+81}}}

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Question 132112: Factor s%5E2%2B18s%2B81
Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Looking at s%5E2%2B18s%2B81 we can see that the first term is s%5E2 and the last term is 81 where the coefficients are 1 and 81 respectively.

Now multiply the first coefficient 1 and the last coefficient 81 to get 81. Now what two numbers multiply to 81 and add to the middle coefficient 18? Let's list all of the factors of 81:



Factors of 81:
1,3,9,27

-1,-3,-9,-27 ...List the negative factors as well. This will allow us to find all possible combinations

These factors pair up and multiply to 81
1*81
3*27
9*9
(-1)*(-81)
(-3)*(-27)
(-9)*(-9)

note: remember two negative numbers multiplied together make a positive number


Now which of these pairs add to 18? Lets make a table of all of the pairs of factors we multiplied and see which two numbers add to 18

First NumberSecond NumberSum
1811+81=82
3273+27=30
999+9=18
-1-81-1+(-81)=-82
-3-27-3+(-27)=-30
-9-9-9+(-9)=-18



From this list we can see that 9 and 9 add up to 18 and multiply to 81


Now looking at the expression s%5E2%2B18s%2B81, replace 18s with 9s%2B9s (notice 9s%2B9s adds up to 18s. So it is equivalent to 18s)

s%5E2%2Bhighlight%289s%2B9s%29%2B81


Now let's factor s%5E2%2B9s%2B9s%2B81 by grouping:


%28s%5E2%2B9s%29%2B%289s%2B81%29 Group like terms


s%28s%2B9%29%2B9%28s%2B9%29 Factor out the GCF of s out of the first group. Factor out the GCF of 9 out of the second group


%28s%2B9%29%28s%2B9%29 Since we have a common term of s%2B9, we can combine like terms

So s%5E2%2B9s%2B9s%2B81 factors to %28s%2B9%29%28s%2B9%29


So this also means that s%5E2%2B18s%2B81 factors to %28s%2B9%29%28s%2B9%29 (since s%5E2%2B18s%2B81 is equivalent to s%5E2%2B9s%2B9s%2B81)


note: %28s%2B9%29%28s%2B9%29 is equivalent to %28s%2B9%29%5E2 since the term s%2B9 occurs twice. So s%5E2%2B18s%2B81 also factors to %28s%2B9%29%5E2



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Answer:
So s%5E2%2B18s%2B81 factors to %28s%2B9%29%5E2