Rick S. answered • 11/21/13
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Hello Bridget,
I hope the following helps you with this. Remember that the GFC is the term that is multiplied by all terms and can be divided out while factoring.
STEP 1: look at all terms and decide what they all have in common. In this case they all have an x with an exponent. Two of them have a 3 as a coefficient but the third does not so the 3 is not a factor of all terms.
STEP 2: What is the lowest exponent of the 3 terms? x6 (Remember that x6 = x * x * x * x * x * x similarly x7 = x * x * x * x * x * x * x) so x6 is our greatest common factor
STEP 3: Factor x8-3x7-3x6 ... start with your GCF x6 * {(x8-3x7-3x6)/x6} ... (Remember when dividing variables with exponents you subtract the value of the exponent) ... x6 * (x2-3x1-3) ... x6 * ((x2-3x-3)
Answer 1: GCF = x6
Answer 2: Factored expression = x6 * ((x2-3x-3)
Good luck
Rick
Rick S.
I am sorry, I feel like maybe I didn't explain it well enough... for your question you needed to know what the greatest common factor was = answer 1 above: GCF = x6 (GCF is an acronym for greatest common factor). I concluded this answer from
steps 1 & 2. The second part of the question is where I actually factored x6 out of the original expression which is denoted above as answer 2 = x6 * (x2-3x-3). This was answered in step 3 listed above. I really hope this helps.
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11/22/13
Bridget M.
11/22/13