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#176 Help Me ! » More factorising revision » 2005-11-28 05:18:02
- RickyOswaldIOW
- Replies: 2
Factorising quadratics that is;
I have y = 2 - 3x - 2x^2.
Normally I would take out the coefficient of x^2 and thus have;
y = -2[x^2 + 1(1/2) - 1]
But I can't seem to factorise this?...
#177 Re: Help Me ! » Factorising Quadratics » 2005-11-26 07:59:23
so if we have ax^2 + bx + c we need to find 2 numbers that add to give b and multiply to give a*c?
#178 Help Me ! » Factorising Quadratics » 2005-11-26 06:09:14
- RickyOswaldIOW
- Replies: 15
I was revising some chapters of my A level maths, I was wondering;
When factorising a quadratic where the coefficient of the x^2 is more than 1, is there a way of figuring out 'a' and 'b' where (ax + y) (bx + z) without using trial and error?
i.e. 6x^2 - 11x + 3
= (2x - 3) (3x - 1)
I start of by guessing with (6x + _) (x + _) and try to fill in the blanks, if it dosent work I move on to (2x + _) (3x + _) and so on. If there is a quicker way to determin the coefficients of x, it would be tres handy 
#179 Introductions » Aloha » 2005-11-18 04:28:30
- RickyOswaldIOW
- Replies: 5
Hi, my name's Rick. I'm an A level student studying from home so I'll probably be coming here lots to pester you with questions