More factoring help? How can you factor a^2 – (x + 1)^2?
How would you factor a^2 – (x + 1)^2 as a difference of two squares? The only pattern I know is the a^2 – b^2 thing, and I tried looking online but I could only find factoring when there was only one variable.
I also have questions like “(c – d)^2 – e^2” and then multiplied out ones like “a^2 – 2ab + b^2 – 4.”
Is there any simple way to do this that I’m completely blanking out on? Any help or step by step instructions would be greatly appreciated 🙂 Thanks! ♥♥
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You have it right about using the factoring form for the difference of two squares.
A^2 – B^2 = (A + B) (A – B)
Here, your A is a and your B is (X + 1)
Therefore, the factoring would be:
(a + [x + 1]) (a – [x + 1]) That reduces to:
(a + x + 1) (a – x -1) The distributive rule carries the negative sign through the bracket.
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