Factor 2x^2-72

$2 x^{2} - 72$

Step 1

Factor $2$ out of $2 x^{2} - 72$ .

Factor $2$ out of $2 x^{2}$ .

$2 (x^{2}) - 72$

Factor $2$ out of $- 72$ .

$2 x^{2} + 2 \cdot - 36$

Factor $2$ out of $2 x^{2} + 2 \cdot - 36$ .

$2 (x^{2} - 36)$

Step 2

Rewrite $36$ as $6^{2}$ .

$2 (x^{2} - 6^{2})$

Step 3

Factor.

Since both terms are perfect squares, factor using the difference of squares formula, $a^{2} - b^{2} = (a + b) (a - b)$ where $a = x$ and $b = 6$ .

$2 ((x + 6) (x - 6))$

Remove unnecessary parentheses.

$2 (x + 6) (x - 6)$