Question 74231
You're basically looking for 2 numbers that add to -7 and multiply to -8. So you could have 1,8 (1*8=8 1+8=9) -1,8 ((-1)8=-8 8-1=7) etc. You would continue this until you have the right combo. So you could factor it to 
{{{(x+1)(x-8)}}} 
If you were to foil it, you would get
{{{(x+1)(x-8)=x^2-8x+x-8=x^2-7x-8}}}Which is our original problem and this verifies our answer.