Here are some strategies you can use to see if an expression is factorable:

1. Check for a greatest common factor. If each term has a common factor, it can be moved to the front of the expression. This shows that the polynomial is factorable, and makes it much simpler:

In both terms, there is a coefficient of 7, so it becomes the coefficient of the new expression.

2. Difference of squares. If the expression is a binomial that has subtraction between the two terms, then you know that the factored version has both a negative and positive sign:

3. Check for patterns. If the expression is a trinomial with a pattern of # , then it is factorable. Even if the expression isn’t a trinomial, if that pattern works, then it’s factorable. For example, #.

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This week, I learnt a useful trick I could apply anywhere, from this question. Factoring the formula helped put it in a simpler form I could better understand, and organized it into compact parts. This will save time when punching in numbers on a calculator. It will also make sure I don’t mess up a step, since with the old formula, I simply calculated everything in a messy way:

I would normally multiply or take care of exponents, and save the answers in my calculator. Then I would add the two saved numbers together for an accurate answer. However, it can get confusing and I sometimes lose track of what I had already multiplied together. This formula looks much nicer:

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