This week I was expecting to be very difficult because we were adding onto polynomials, but I found it surprisingly easy. My ah-ha moment was when I realized how easy it is to factor polynomials. I always found having to find the greatest common factor very difficult, but with this unit because we are factoring smaller numbers I have been finding it very simple. You start with the polynomial, and you factor the given numbers in the equation, then you factor the variable in the equation, and those numbers are the numbers outside of the brackets. For example if all the numbers in an equation have the GCF 2 in common and they each have one X in common that would be what is on the outside of the brackets. For inside the brackets you get the “leftover” numbers that couldn’t be factored and somewhat match them up so that in the factored equation it adds up to the equation before you factored it.

Example: