Factor 9m^2-16

$9 m^{2} - 16$

Step 1

Rewrite $9 m^{2}$ as ${(3 m)}^{2}$ .

${(3 m)}^{2} - 16$

Step 2

Rewrite $16$ as $4^{2}$ .

${(3 m)}^{2} - 4^{2}$

Step 3

Since both terms are perfect squares, factor using the difference of squares formula, $a^{2} - b^{2} = (a + b) (a - b)$ where $a = 3 m$ and $b = 4$ .

$(3 m + 4) (3 m - 4)$