x ^ 2 - 5 x + 6

Question

x ^ 2 - 5 x + 6

Answer 1

To factor this, first take the first expression x². The only way to multiply 2 variables together and get that is x*x, so we know the first variable in each is x.  (x+?)(x+?).  Since we have a negative second term and a positive third term we know that both will be negative.  So far we have (x-?)(x-?).  Then we can take the last term 6. The factors of 6 are 1 and 6 and 2 and 3. In order to get -5 we have to use -2 and -3.  So the answer is (x-2)(x-3).