During week 5 of Precalc 11, we spent the first three days reviewing for our unit 2 test of radicals and absolute value. Mixed in between the review, was another review of factoring for the next unit. We reviewed factoring on Monday and Friday.
A new abbreviation was learned this week to help us out with factoring. When we need to factor an expression we can go through these steps to properly factor everything.
Common – Is there anything you can divide every term in the expression by?
Difference of squares – Is the expression a difference of squares? (Must be binomial)
Pattern – Does the trinomial follow the pattern X2, X, #?
- Easy – Does the X2 have no coefficient?
- Ugly – Does the X2 have a coefficient?
Now, using this format, we can go through every step when factoring to know exactly when to stop.