Factor these polynomial. (See Examples 1 and 2.)
b4 − b2
Example 1
Factor the following polynomials.
(a) x8 + 4x4 + 3
Solution The idea is to make a substitution that reduces the polynomial to a quadratic or cubic that we can dead with. Note that x8 = (x4)2. Let u = x4. Then
(b) x4 − y4Solution Note that x4 = (x2)2, and similarly for the y term. Let u = x2 and v = y2. Then
Example 2
Factor 256k4 − 625m4.
Solution Use the difference of squares twice, as follows:
We need at least 10 more requests to produce the solution.
0 / 10 have requested this problem solution
The more requests, the faster the answer.