Factor the expression. x2 - 11x + 24

Question

please help me

Answer 1

x^2 - 11x + 24

Since it's just x^2, it should be something like this:

(x   ) (x   )

24 factors into 3 and 8, so let's try this:

(x  3) (x  8)

See how there's a - on the 11x in the middle?  Let's try this:

(x - 3) (x - 8)

Expand that and we get

x^2 - 3x - 8x + 24

x^2 - 11x + 24

That matches our original problem, so:

The factors of x^2 - 11x + 24 are (x-3) and (x-8)