I have several of these problems and am having trouble getting the hang of it.

Question

Can you help me?

Factor. If the result is the square of a binomial, write it as such. If the result is prime, so state.
Here are the first couple of problems.

1) x^2 + 7x + 12
2) x^2 - x - 12
3) x^2 - 4x - 12

Answer 1

With these easy ones that start with 1x^2
look at the last term
e.g for x^2 + 7x + 12
last term is 12,
can you find two factors of 12 that have a sum of the middle term, namely 7 ?
yes: 3 and 4
3x4 =12
3+4 = 7
so the factors are (x+3)(x+4)

2nd:
s^2 - x -12
can you find two factors of -12 that have a sum of -1 ?
yes! , -4 and 3
-4(3) = -12
-4 + 3 = -1
so (x-4)(x+3)

you try the last one, let me know what you got