The Factoring App

This is an interactive guide to factoring.  It follows the same process as this flow-chart, but has more explanation and looks a bit less daunting. 

Pay special attention to the questions you are asked.   If you do that and try to notice the patterns, it will help you to factor on your own. 

If you wish to leave feedback, Richards@math.msu.edu is the place to send it.  Please let me know if any of the links are broken, if the explanations are unclear, or if this was especially helpful for you.

You can always click the back button in your internet browser to get back to the beginning or the last step. 

 

Start Here

Can you take out a GCF? 

Look at all of your terms.  If a number goes into all of them, or one variable occurs in all of them, then the answer is yes.

Yes       No