How do you factor by grouping x3+6x2x30?

1 Answer
May 10, 2015

x3+6x2x30
=(x3+8x2+15x)(2x2+16x+30)
=x(x2+8x+15)2(x2+8x+15)
=(x2)(x2+8x+15)
=(x2)(x2+(3+5)x+35)
=(x2)(x+3)(x+5)

I actually noticed that x=2 is a solution of x3+6x2x30=0, so (x2) is a factor and worked from there.

When looking for solutions of polynomials in one variable, the highest order term becomes dominant quite quickly. If all the coefficients are integers, and the highest order coefficient is 1 then any rational solution is an integer, and any integer solution must be a factor of the constant term. In the case of x3+6x2x30 the constant term 30 has quite a few factors you might choose, but only -6, -5, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 would probably make sense to try.