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In mathematics, factorization (or factorisation, see English spelling differences) or factoring consists of writing a number or another mathematical object as a product of several factors, usually smaller or simpler objects of the same kind. For example, 3 × 5 is an integer factorization of 15, and (x – 2)(x + 2) is a polynomial ...
In mathematics and computer algebra the factorization of a polynomial consists of decomposing it into a product of irreducible factors.This decomposition is theoretically possible and is unique for polynomials with coefficients in any field, but rather strong restrictions on the field of the coefficients are needed to allow the computation of the factorization by means of an algorithm.
For instance, the polynomial x 2 + 3x + 2 is an example of this type of trinomial with n = 1. The solution a 1 = −2 and a 2 = −1 of the above system gives the trinomial factorization: x 2 + 3x + 2 = (x + a 1)(x + a 2) = (x + 2)(x + 1). The same result can be provided by Ruffini's rule, but with a more complex and time-consuming process.
If two or more factors of a polynomial are identical, then the polynomial is a multiple of the square of this factor. The multiple factor is also a factor of the polynomial's derivative (with respect to any of the variables, if several). For univariate polynomials, multiple factors are equivalent to multiple roots (over a suitable extension field).
In elementary algebra, FOIL is a mnemonic for the standard method of multiplying two binomials [1] —hence the method may be referred to as the FOIL method.The word FOIL is an acronym for the four terms of the product:
The formula for the difference of two squares can be used for factoring polynomials that contain the square of a first quantity minus the square of a second quantity. For example, the polynomial x 4 − 1 {\displaystyle x^{4}-1} can be factored as follows:
Layers of Pascal's pyramid derived from coefficients in an upside-down ternary plot of the terms in the expansions of the powers of a trinomial – the number of terms is clearly a triangular number. In mathematics, a trinomial expansion is the expansion of a power of a sum of three terms into monomials. The expansion is given by
In algebra, the factor theorem connects polynomial factors with polynomial roots. Specifically, if f ( x ) {\displaystyle f(x)} is a polynomial, then x − a {\displaystyle x-a} is a factor of f ( x ) {\displaystyle f(x)} if and only if f ( a ) = 0 {\displaystyle f(a)=0} (that is, a {\displaystyle a} is a root of the polynomial).