5.1 GREATEST COMMON FACTOR AND GROUPING Remember the distributive property: a(b+c) = ab + ac Example: 4x(2x + 3) = 8x2 + 12x To factor a polynomial is to write it as a product. In factoring we always first check for the greatest common factor in each term and use the distributive property to rewrite the polynomial as a product. We can check our answer by multiplying. Factor out the greatest common factor. Check by multiplying. 1. 6x + 18 2. 20x2 – 10x 3. -8x5 – 3x4 + 4x3 4. x5y2 – x3y2 + x4y5 + x2y2 5. x(y + 3) + 4(y + 3) 6. w(x – 2) – (x – 2) Factor by Grouping: 4 Terms 7. x2 + 4x + 3x + 12 8. 3x2 – 3x –2x + 2 9. x2 – 2x – x + 2 10. 3x3 + 18x2 + 5x + 25You Try: 1. 8x2 – 10x + 4 2. 8x5 + 5x4 – 3x3 3. -3x4 – 6x3 + 3x2 4. x5y5 – x4y3 + x3y3 – x3y2 5. 4x(x - 9) – 3(x - 9) 6. x(x + 7) + (x + 7) 7. 10x2 – 25x + 4x – 10 8. y3 + 8y2 – 2y – 16 9. 20x3 – 4x2 – 5x +