Factor x^2-xy-12y^2

$x^{2} - x y - 12 y^{2}$

Step 1

For a polynomial of the form $a x^{2} + b x + c$ , rewrite the middle term as a sum of two terms whose product is $a \cdot c = 1 \cdot - 12 = - 12$ and whose sum is $b = - 1$ .

Reorder terms.

$x^{2} - 12 y^{2} - x y$

Reorder $- 12 y^{2}$ and $- x y$ .

$x^{2} - x y - 12 y^{2}$

Factor $- 1$ out of $- x y$ .

$x^{2} - (x y) - 12 y^{2}$

Rewrite $- 1$ as $3$ plus $- 4$

$x^{2} + (3 - 4) (x y) - 12 y^{2}$

Apply the distributive property.

$x^{2} + 3 (x y) - 4 (x y) - 12 y^{2}$

Remove unnecessary parentheses.

$x^{2} + 3 x y - 4 (x y) - 12 y^{2}$

Remove unnecessary parentheses.

$x^{2} + 3 x y - 4 x y - 12 y^{2}$

Step 2

Factor out the greatest common factor from each group.

Group the first two terms and the last two terms.

$(x^{2} + 3 x y) - 4 x y - 12 y^{2}$

Factor out the greatest common factor (GCF) from each group.

$x (x + 3 y) - 4 y (x + 3 y)$

Step 3

Factor the polynomial by factoring out the greatest common factor, $x + 3 y$ .

$(x + 3 y) (x - 4 y)$

Factor x^2-xy-12y^2

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