How do you factor special products of polynomials?

1 Answer
Sidharth · KillerBunny
Jan 24, 2015

Look for numbers that are perfect squares or perfect cubes.
There are many special products in factoring. Three of the most well-known are
(x+y)^2=x^2+2xy+y^2
and
(x−y)^2=x-2xy+y^2
and
(x+y)(x−y)=x^2−y^2

Two less well-known ones are
x^3+y^3=(x+y)(x^2−xy+y^2)
and
x^3−y^3=(x−y)(x^2+xy−y^2)
Note that in an actual problem, x and y can be any number or variable. Hope this helped!

Related questions
See all questions in Factor Polynomials Using Special Products
Impact of this question
10813 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License