Question

Factor out the greatest common factor from the following polynomial.4x^7 - 20x^6 + 8x^5

Answer 1

The given polynomial is:

`4x^7-20x^6+8x^5`

Notice that the greatest common factor of the numbers 4, 20, and 8 is 4.

Also, notice that the greatest common factor of the variables is x⁵.

Hence, the greatest common factor of the polynomial is 4x⁵.

Therefore factor out 4x⁵ from the polynomial to get:

`\begin{gathered} 4x^7-20x^6+8x^5=4x^5((4x^7)/(4x^5)-(20x^6)/(4x^5)+(8x^5)/(4x^5)) \\ =4x^5(x^2-5x+8) \end{gathered}`