Question

Factor the following difference of squares. *Check for a GCF.

Answer 1

SOLUTION

We want to factorise

$2x^3-200x$

This becomes

$\begin{gathered} 2x^3-200x \\ =2x(x^2-100) \\ we\text{ can s}ee\text{ that the greatest co}mmon\text{ factor of }2x^3-200x\text{ is }2x \end{gathered}$

Continuing, we have

$\begin{gathered} 2x(x^2-100) \\ 2x\mleft\lbrace(x-10\mright)(x+10)\} \\ \end{gathered}$

Hence the answer becomes

$2x(x-10)(x+10)$