Factoring Trinomials

To factor a trinomial means to write the trinomial as a product of two factors. It is the reverse of expansion (FOIL).

Example :

In order to factor the trinomial,

we need to find two constants p and q such that:

Now, if we expand the RHS we will get:

Comparing coefficients, we get:

So, b = p + q and c = pq.

In other words, we need to find two constants p and q such that their sum p + q = b and their product pq = c.

The following videos will illustrate how to factor trinomials.

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