To factor or not to factor

De, Prithwijit (2023) To factor or not to factor. At Right Angles. pp. 30-31. ISSN 2582-1873

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Abstract

Factorisation of algebraic expressions is an integral part of school algebra curriculum. Most of the expressions one deals with involve at most two variables and their degrees are either 2 or 3. The process of finding factors relies heavily on the ability to make astute observations and clever reductions to some standard forms such as u2 − v2 or u3 ± v3. Rarely does one encounter expressions of degree 4 or higher with the exception of x4 + x2y2 + y4 which can be reduced to the u2 − v2 form by writing it as (x4 + 2x2 y 2 + y 4 ) − x2 y 2 = (x2 + y 2 ) 2 − (xy) 2 .

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Articles in APF Magazines

Authors:

De, Prithwijit

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