Question 205504: My niece is being home-schooled (8th grade) and has gotten into some algebra and geometry problems that she is clueless with. The lessons give few examples and then when you finally get used to doing that particular set of problems they throw another monkey wrench in there, just to mess with you. I have been trying to help her, as I am the only one who has taken any of this stuff, but it has been 18 years since I have seen geometry and algebra, so need a crash course. Some of it is coming back fine, but I have hit a brick wall on 2 problems. These are pretty much identical (same idea just different numbers) so if I can have one explained, maybe it will make sense and I can explain it to her. I am trying to do this step-by-step and letting her solve for herself and just checking her answers, so please keep this in mind. She is smart and grasps relatively easily, but I am not a teacher, so I need the easiest concept to be able to get this across. Thanks in advance for your time!
The problem is: Enter the dimensions of a particular rectangle that has the volume of
50x cubed - 3 - 2x + 75x^
The answer should have three (3) sets of parentheses ( )x ( ) x( ) according to the "help screen" on her schoolwork.
Found 2 solutions by Targetweek, rapaljer:
Answer by Targetweek(62)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! sorry this isn't a solution but could you retype the equation i'm not able to make out what you mean. Is it a like Ax^3 + Bx^2 + Cx + D where A,B,C are the coefficients and D is the constant?
Answer by rapaljer(4671)  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! I'm not sure you stated the problem correctly. Did you mean to say
 ??? If so, then:
First, place the terms in DESCENDING POWER:
Next, this is a FACTORING BY GROUPING problem, where you have to group the first two and the last two together. In the first two terms, there is a common factor of 25x^2, and in the second two terms there is a common factor of -1.
This generates a COMMON FACTOR of (2x+3), which you can take out, leaving this:
The last factor is a DIFFERENCE of SQUARES, so it factors again:
 .
If you are not help with your homeschool curriculum, you may want to supplement what you are using with some of the materials that are free on my website. I wrote my own curriulum for my Basic, Intermediate, and College Algebra books, most of which you can see on line at my website. You can click on my tutor name "Rapaljer" anywhere in algebra.com, and that is my Homepage. From there look for "Basic, Intermediate, and College Algebra: One Step at a Time." I also have a number of vidoes that are available on my "Rapalje Vidoes" page. Also, see my "Math in Living Color" pages. This is all free on the website. If you like the website, send me an Email, and I'll be glad to help you find what you need there.
R^2
Dr. Robert J. Rapalje
Seminole Community College
Altamonte Springs, Florida
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