College Algebra & Trigonometry, 2018a

26 CHAPTER 1. ALGEBRA REVIEW
If we want to factor it as it is, we should be aware that the constant term is positive
and the quadratic term is negative, which means that we will want the factors of
24 to have a difference of 2.
Example
Factor 6x 2 +12x +6
24 − 2x − x 2 =(6+x)(4 − x)
First, we notice that this expression has a common factor of 6. If we factor out the
6, then we should be left with an easier problem:
6x 2 +12x +6=6(x 2 +2x +1)=6(x +1)(x +1)=6(x +1) 2