Question

Sal was asked to completely factor 8x + 12 and got 2(4x+6) as the answer. Explain why this is wrong

Answer 1

Answer:

4(2x+3)

Step-by-step explanation:

8x+12

4(2x+3)

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Note that 8x+12=4(2x+3),

because we factored out 4.

Sal's answer is wrong because even though 2(4x+6)=8x+12,

but the answer 4(2x+3) is more reasonable,

because our goal is to find the largest number when factoring an expression.