Combine all of the like terms and move them to one side of the equation. The first step to factoring an equation is to move all of the terms to one side of the equation, keeping the term positive. To combine the terms, add or subtract all of the terms, the terms, and the constants (integer terms) moving them to one side of the equation so that nothing remains on the other side. Once the other side has no remaining terms, you can just write "0" on that side of the equal sign. Factoring is just one method.