ALWAYS ALWAYS check for the GCF first.
The order to do factoring:
1. GCF
2. Grouping (4 terms, common factor 2by2.)
3. Trinomial
There are lots of different ways a trinomial can look. The hot tip is three terms, and the
powers go down 2, 1, nothing. Everything else in this section is a variation on the 2, 1,
nothing theme.
ALWAYS try to make your life easier by finding a common factor.
This is especially true on certain exercises. They aren’t done if they don’t have the GCF out!
I like the table method better than the trial-and-error method, because it ORGANIZES the
trial and error (you know you haven’t missed anything) and it SELF-CHECKS. (Watch
the OLL on that.)
If you want to see some other shortcuts using factoring trees, view the OLL.
ALWAYS check your answers by multiplying them back out.
