Factorize the Volume Expression: b³ + 5b² + 6b = v cm³

Question

An orthohedron has a volume of

b3+5b2+6b=v b^3+5b^2+6b=v cm3.


Factorise the above expression.

Video Solution

Solution Steps

00:10 Let's start by breaking this expression into smaller parts.
00:14 Notice that B appears in all the terms. It's a common factor.
00:27 Now, let's factor B out of these terms inside the parentheses.
00:39 We're going to factor a trinomial. First, find the coefficients.
00:44 We need two numbers that add up to B, which is 5.
00:48 And their product must be C, which is 6.
00:54 These numbers work well. Let's substitute them back in.
01:01 Great job! That's how we solve the problem.

Step-by-Step Solution

Let's address the given box volume expression:

V=b3+5b2+6b V=b^3+5b^2+6b

Proceed to break it down into factors. Note that we can factor out a common term from all members in the volume expression.

It is the common factor b that is the greatest for both numbers and letters,

V=b3+5b2+6bV=b(b2+5b+6) V=b^3+5b^2+6b \\ \downarrow\\ \boxed{ V=b(b^2+5b+6)}

Let's continue to address the expression inside of the parentheses:

b2+5b+6 b^2+5b+6

Note that the coefficient of the squared term in this expression is 1, therefore we can (try to) factor this expression by using quick trinomial factoring:

We'll look for a pair of numbers whose product is the free term in the expression on the left side, and whose sum is the coefficient of the first-degree term in the expression meaning two numbers m,n m,\hspace{2pt}n that satisfy the following values:

mn=6m+n=5 m\cdot n=6\\ m+n=5

From the first requirement above, meaning - from the multiplication, we can deduce according to the rules of sign multiplication that both numbers have the same signs. Now we'll recall that 6 has the factors (whole numbers) 2 and 3 or 6 and 1, fulfilling the second requirement mentioned. Together with the fact that the signs of the numbers we're looking for are equal to each other leads us to the conclusion that the only possibility for the two numbers we're looking for is:

{m=2n=3 \begin{cases} m=2\\ n=3 \end{cases}

Therefore we'll factor the expression in question to:

b2+5b+6(b+2)(b+3) b^2+5b+6 \\ \downarrow\\ (b+2)(b+3)

where we used the pair of numbers we found earlier in this factoring,

Let's return now to the volume expression we started to factor earlier (highlighted with a square) and apply this factoring:

V=b(b2+5b+6)V=b(b+2)(b+3) V=b(b^2+5b+6)\\ \downarrow\\ \boxed{V=b(b+2)(b+3)}

Note that this is indeed the most factored expression possible for the given volume expression,

Therefore the correct answer is answer D

Answer

b(b+2)(b+3) b(b+2)(b+3)