How do you factor $x^{2} - x - 6$ $x^{2}-x-6$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2018-07-06T17:20:00

$(x + 2) (x - 3)$ $(x+2)(x-3)$

$x^{2} - x - 6$ $x^2-x-6$

$= x^{2} - 3 x + 2 x - 6$ $=x^2-3x+2x-6$

$= x (x - 3) + 2 (x - 3)$ $=x(x-3)+2(x-3)$

$= (x + 2) (x - 3)$ $=(x+2)(x-3)$

Answer 2 · 2018-07-06T17:36:13

$(x - 3) (x + 2)$ $(x-3)(x+2)$

Let's do a little thought experiment:

What two numbers sum up to $- 1$ $-1$ (middle term) and have a product of $- 6$ $-6$ (last term)?

After some trial and error, we arrive at $- 3$ $-3$ and $2$ $2$ . Thus, we can factor this quadratic as

$(x - 3) (x + 2)$ $(x-3)(x+2)$

Hope this helps!

How do you factor x2−x−6x^{2}-x-6?