Problem 1
Factorise the following quadratic expressions:
Part (c) can be given in the form
Give the value of
Hint
For the first problem, imagine it in this way
So you can begin by writing
and your table should look like
You are searching for the pair from the table which adds together to make
The other two can be treated similarly.
Solution
Our table looks like
We need the pair which adds to make
and so we get We can consider this as a quadratic in terms of
, so we get We need the pair which sums to
, so we get