SOLUTION: Factor each polynomial completely. x^3 y+2x^2 y^2+x y^3 I am completely stuck on this question. I have read and re-read the chapter in my book and I am still stumped.

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Question 230117: Factor each polynomial completely.
x^3 y+2x^2 y^2+x y^3
I am completely stuck on this question. I have read and re-read the chapter in my book and I am still stumped.
Answer by vleith(2983) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Given
You can see there are three terms separated by 2 plus signs.
Looking at those three terms, you can see that each of them includes some power of x and some power of y.
First thing you want to do is factor out and common terms in each of those two variables.
The first term has x^3, then second has x^2 and the last one has just x.
So you can factor out an x

Now do the same thing for y

Now you need to see if the polynomial on the right can be factored further.
It can.

There are some good URLs you cna use to check your factoring
http://72.3.253.76:8080/webMathematica3/quickmath/page.jsp?s1=algebra&s2=factor&s3=basic
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x^3+y%2B2x^2+y^2%2Bxy^3
Hope this helps!