Talia grouped the terms and factored out the GCF of the groups of the polynomial 15x2 – 3x – 20x + 4. Her work is shown below.

Question

(15x2 – 3x) + (–20x + 4)
3x(5x – 1) + 4(–5x + 1)
Talia noticed that she does not have a common factor. What should she do?

Talia needs to leave the polynomial as is because it is prime and cannot be factored.
Talia needs to factor out a 3x from the first group and a 4x from the second group.
Talia needs to factor out a negative from one of the groups so the binomials will be the same.
Talia needs to apply the distributive property to get the expression (3x + 4)(5x – 1).

Answer 1

Talia needs to apply the distributive property to get the expression (3x + 4)(5x – 1).