Question

Factor 125x^3-1000. Show your work.

Answer 1

The left term is (5x)³.

The right term is 10³.

So, you can use the formula for the factorization of the difference of cubes.

... a³ - b³ = (a-b)(a² +ab +b²)

Here, you have a=5x, b=10, so the factorization is

... 125x³ -1000 = (5x-10)(25x² +50x +100)