Question

The first step in the process for factoring the trinomial x^2-5x-36 is to:

A. find the sum of the factors of 5
B. find the sum of the factors of 36
C. list all the factors of the 5
D. list all the factors of 36

Answer 1

Answer:d

Explanation:

Answer 2

D. List all the factors of 36.

Explanation:

We are given the following information in the question:

`x^2 - 5x -36`

We have to factorize the above expression.

To do so, we use the technique of splitting the middle term.

The first step in finding these factors is to find a pair of factors whose sum is -5 and whose product is -36.

Thus, we need to list all the factors of 36 and then find the factors of -36 and find a pair such that the sum of factors is -5.

The factors could be find in the following manner:

`x^2 - 5x -36=0\\x^2 - 9x + 4x  36=0\\x(x-9)+4(x-9) = 0\\(x+4)(x-9) = 0\\x = -4, x = 9`

The factors are (x+4) and (x-9).