Megan factored the expression3x^2-23x+14 as (x-2)(3x-7) . But when Jacob applied the FOIL principle and multiplied out (x-2)(3x-7) , he got 3x^2-13x+14 ; thus, Megan’s solution does not appear to check. Why is that? Please help Megan to understand this better. Explain your reasoning and correctly factor the original expression, if possible. If the expression is prime, so state.

1 answer

Look at example 7 to understand the definition of prime.

http://www.wtamu.edu/academic/anns/mps/math/mathlab/int_algebra/int_alg_tut28_facttri.htm