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Can someone please explain how it goes from 0=x^2-2x-3 to 0=(x+1)(x-3)

Can someone please explain how it goes from 0=x^2-2x-3 to 0=(x+1)(x-3)-example-1

1 Answer

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Basically you are trying to find two numbers that when they are added equals -2 and when multiplied equals -3. As you can see -3 plus +1 is equal to -2. And 1 times -3 equals -3. Therefore you have (x+1)(x-3). In order to check if these are the right numbers you will need to multiply (x+1)(x-3) and will end up with the first equation x^2-2x-3. Hope this helped! :)
User DooDoo
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