How do you factor 9x^2+24xy+16y^2?

2 Answers
Mar 17, 2018

9x^2+24xy+16y^2 = (3x+4y)^2

Explanation:

Note that:

9x^2 = (3x)^2

24xy = 2(3x)(4y)

16y^2 = (4y)^2

So:

9x^2+24xy+16y^2 = (3x)^2+2(3x)(4y)+(4y)^2

is in the form:

A^2+2AB+B^2 = (A+B)^2

So putting A=3x and B=4y we have:

9x^2+24xy+16y^2 = (3x+4y)^2

Mar 17, 2018

(3x+4y)(3x+4y)

Explanation:

We are given:

9x^2 + 24xy + 16y^2

We want to obtain an expression of the form:

(ax+by)(cx+dy)

where a,b,c,d are integers (not necessarily unique from each other).

Expanding this form we get:

acx^2 + adxy +bcxy + bdy^2

acx^2 +(ab+cd)xy + bdy^2

From the expression we are given we must satisfy the following equations:

ac = 9
bd = 16
ab+cd = 24

For (a,c) we can have (eliminating any repeats):
(1,9),(3,3),cancel{(9,1)}

For (b,d) we can have (eliminating any repeats):
(1,16),(2,8),(4,4),cancel{(8,2)},cancel{(16,1)}

With these options, we now need to find the ones that when combined will give us the ab+cd = 24:

(1,9)(1,16) -> 1xx1+9xx16=145
(1,9)(2,8) -> 1xx2+9xx8 =74
(1,9)(4,4) -> 1xx4+9xx4 = 40
(3,3)(1,16) -> 3xx1+3xx16= 51
(3,3)(2,8) -> 3xx2+3xx8=30
color(blue)((3,3)(4,4) -> 3xx4+3xx4 =24)

Hence, we must choose (a,c) = (3,3) and (b,d) = (4,4)

So the factored expression (ax+by)(cx+dy) is:

9x^2 + 24xy + 16y^2= color(green){(3x+4y)(3x+4y)}