How do you factor and solve 3x^2+5x+2=03x2+5x+2=0?

1 Answer
May 24, 2016

The solutions for the equation are

color(green)(x = -2/3x=23

color(green)(x = -1x=1

Explanation:

3x^2 + 5x + 2 = 0 3x2+5x+2=0

We can Split the Middle Term of this expression to factorise it.

In this technique, if we have to factorise an expression like ax^2 + bx + cax2+bx+c, we need to think of 2 numbers such that:

N_1*N_2 = a*c = 3*2 = 6N1N2=ac=32=6

AND

N_1 +N_2 = b = 5N1+N2=b=5

After trying out a few numbers we get N_1 = 3N1=3 and N_2 =2N2=2
3*2 = 632=6, and 3 + 2= 53+2=5

Factorising the expression:

3x^2 +color(blue)( 5x) + 2 = 3x^2 + color(blue)(3x + 2x) + 2 3x2+5x+2=3x2+3x+2x+2

= 3x(x + 1 ) + 2 ( x + 1 )=3x(x+1)+2(x+1)

(x +1 )(x+1) is a common factor to each of the terms

=color(blue)((3x + 2 ) ( x + 1 )=(3x+2)(x+1)

We now equate the factors to zero to obtain the solutions:

  • 3x + 2 = 0, color(green)(x = -2/33x+2=0,x=23

  • x +1 = 0, color(green)(x = -1x+1=0,x=1