Question

Factor completely 4x^4-20x^3+12x^2

Answer 1

With integers: 4x^2 (x^2-5x+3)

After quadratic:

Explanation:

First, find the Greatest Common Factor of all the terms:

`4 {x}^(2)`

Now factor it out of each term:

`4 {x}^(2) ( {x}^(2) - 5x + 3)`

All I did was I took each term and put it over my GCF.

`4 {x}^(4) / 4 {x}^(2) = {x}^(2) \\ - 20 {x}^(3) / 4 {x}^(2) = - 5x \\ 12 {x}^(2) / 4 {x}^(2) = + 3`

Unfortunately it cannot factor nicely any further, if you want the full answer, plug "x^2-5x+3" into the quadratic formula "x=(-b+/-sqrt (b^2-4ac))/(2a).