How do you factor 32 - 18x^2?

1 Answer
Oct 1, 2015

First separate out the common scalar factor 2, then use the difference of squares identity to find:

32 - 18x^2 = 2(4-3x)(4+3x)

Explanation:

The difference of squares identity is: a^2 - b^2 = (a-b)(a+b)

Using a = 4 and b = 3x, we find:

32 - 18x^2 = 2(16-9x^2) = 2(4^2 - (3x)^2) = 2(4-3x)(4+3x)