the first step in the process for factoring the trinomial x^2-5x-36 is to:
A. find the sum of the factors of 5
B. find the sum of the factors of 36
C. list all the factors of the 5
D. list all the factors of 36

Respuesta :

Answer:d

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer:

D. List all the factors of 36.

Step-by-step explanation:

We are given the following information in the question:

[tex]x^2 - 5x -36[/tex]

We have to factorize the above expression.

To do so, we use the technique of splitting the middle term.

The first step in finding these factors is to find a pair of factors whose sum is -5 and whose product is -36.

Thus, we need to list all the factors of 36 and then find the factors of -36 and find a pair such that the sum of factors is -5.

The factors could be find in the following manner:

[tex]x^2 - 5x -36=0\\x^2 - 9x + 4x  36=0\\x(x-9)+4(x-9) = 0\\(x+4)(x-9) = 0\\x = -4, x = 9[/tex]

The factors are (x+4) and (x-9).