Question

Can you factor the common factor out of this problem? 3p+12q-15q^2r^2

Answer 1

Greatest common factor is 3

Answer 2

The answer after being factored is,
`-3( 5q^(2) r^(2) -p-4q)`

When we are factoring, all we are doing is finding a GCF and taking it from the expression and dividing it into every term. Let's break our expression into parts first


`3p`


`12q`


`-15q^(2) r^(2)`

Now, each number is divisible by 3, but since our biggest number is a negative, we will make our GCF -3 instead of 3. So let's divide each part by -3.


`3p / -3 =-p`


`12q/-3=-4q`


`-15q ^(2) r^(2) /-3=5q^(2) r^(2)`

Now let's put it together in an expression:


`5q^(2) r^(2) -p-4q`

When we factor we always put our factored expression in parenthesis with the term the expression was factored by on the outside like so:



`-3(5q^(2) r^(2) -p-4q)`

Thank you for the question I hope this helped! Have an amazing day! :D