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| Question 191479:  35y^3-60y^2-20y
 Factor the trinomial completely
 Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256)
      (Show Source): 
You can put this solution on YOUR website! 
  Start with the given expression 
 
 
  Factor out the GCF   
 
 Now let's focus on the inner expression
   
 
 
 
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 Looking at
  we can see that the first term is  and the last term is  where the coefficients are 7 and -4 respectively. 
 Now multiply the first coefficient 7 and the last coefficient -4 to get -28. Now what two numbers multiply to -28 and add to the  middle coefficient -12? Let's list all of the factors of -28:
 
 
 
 Factors of -28:
 1,2,4,7,14,28
 
 -1,-2,-4,-7,-14,-28 ...List the negative factors as well. This will allow us to find all possible combinations
 
 These factors pair up and multiply to -28
 (1)*(-28)
 (2)*(-14)
 (4)*(-7)
 (-1)*(28)
 (-2)*(14)
 (-4)*(7)
 
 note: remember, the product of a negative and a positive number is a negative number
 
 
 Now which of these pairs add to -12? Lets make a table of all of the pairs of factors we multiplied and see which two numbers add to -12
 
 
 
| First Number | Second Number | Sum | | 1 | -28 | 1+(-28)=-27 |  | 2 | -14 | 2+(-14)=-12 |  | 4 | -7 | 4+(-7)=-3 |  | -1 | 28 | -1+28=27 |  | -2 | 14 | -2+14=12 |  | -4 | 7 | -4+7=3 |  
 
 From this list we can see that 2 and -14 add up to -12 and multiply to -28
 
 
 Now looking at the expression
  , replace  with  (notice  adds up to  . So it is equivalent to  ) 
 
   
 
 Now let's factor
  by grouping: 
 
 
  Group like terms 
 
 
  Factor out the GCF of  out of the first group. Factor out the GCF of  out of the second group 
 
 
  Since we have a common term of  , we can combine like terms 
 So
  factors to   
 
 So this also means that
  factors to  (since  is equivalent to  ) 
 
 
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 So our expression goes from
  and factors further to   
 
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 Answer:
 
 So
  completely factors to   
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