Question

A. Rod told you that x + 1 is one of the factors of ax2 – a. Do you agree with him? Why or why not? Write down your step-by-step way of factoring this kind of polynomial. Your answer will be assessed according to this rubrics

Answer 1

`a {x}^(2) - a`

then you multiple the a's

`{x}^(2) - {a}^(2)`

use square root factor

`\sqrt{ {x}^(2) } + - { √(a) }^(2)`

which makes

`(x - a)(x + a)`

then you divide the a by a to get

`(x + 1)(x - 1)`

so yes x + 1 is a factor