Question

Jedida solved the quadratic equation x2−96=4x
by factoring. Her work is shown below. At which step did Jedida first make a mistake, if at all?



(1 point)

Step 1; she added 4x to both sides instead of subtracting.

Step 2; she did not factor the left side of the equation correctly.

Step 3; she did not apply the Zero Product Property correctly.

She did not make any mistakes.
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Answer 1

Step 1.

Starting from x^2 − 96 = 4x, you should subtract 4x from both sides to get
x^2 − 4x − 96 = 0.
Jedida instead added 4x to both sides, which changes the equation. The correct factoring is (x − 12)(x + 8) = 0, so x = 12 or x = −8.