Question

find the greatest common factor of the terms of the polynomial 16w^4+20w^3+4w^2

Answer 1

First find the common numerical factor: gcd(16, 20, 4) = 4.
For the variable part, the smallest power of w is w^2.

So the greatest common factor is 4w^2.

You can factor the polynomial as: 16w^4 + 20w^3 + 4w^2 = 4w^2(4w^2 + 5w + 1).