Title: How to factorise simple quadratic equations.
1How to factorise simple quadratic equations.
2You need to factorise the following equation to
win the pub quiz!
3Step 1 List all the factor pairs of 24
You could use a factor pair diagram to help
you.
Factor pairs are 1 x 24, 2 x 12, 3 x 8, 4 x 6
4Step 2 add the factor pairs together to make
the coefficient of x
Factor pairs 1 x 24 2 x 12 3 x 8 4 x 6
We need to make 2. We also know that we need a
negative number since we have -24.
Looking at the factor pairs, we can see that 6
4 would give us 2
5Step 3 we can now factorise since we have all
the information we need.
6However we could check we are correct by
expanding the brackets.
In school, you were probably shown the smiley
face method, given below. However, if you still
find this rather confusing, you might consider
using the grid method shown on the next page.
7The grid method of multiplication for (x 4)(x
6)