factor the polynomial a^4 b + a^2 b^2

Question

factor the polynomial using one of the methods

Answer 1

Question: factor the polynomial a^4 b + a^2 b^2

The polynomial is:a^4.b + a^2.b^2   -- take out a common factor of a^2 to give

a^2(a^2.b + b^2)   -- now we see that we can still take out another common factor, of b. This gives us

a^2.b(a^2 + b)   -- this is the final answer - the fully factorised form.