Solve by Factoring 4x^4-73x^2+144=0

$4 x^{4} - 73 x^{2} + 144 = 0$

Step 1

Rewrite $x^{4}$ as ${(x^{2})}^{2}$ .

$4 {(x^{2})}^{2} - 73 x^{2} + 144 = 0$

Step 2

Let $u = x^{2}$ . Substitute $u$ for all occurrences of $x^{2}$ .

$4 u^{2} - 73 u + 144 = 0$

Step 3

Factor by grouping.

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 $a \cdot c = 4 \cdot 144 = 576$ and whose sum is $b = - 73$ .

Factor $- 73$ out of $- 73 u$ .

$4 u^{2} - 73 u + 144 = 0$

Rewrite $- 73$ as $- 9$ plus $- 64$

$4 u^{2} + (- 9 - 64) u + 144 = 0$

Apply the distributive property.

$4 u^{2} - 9 u - 64 u + 144 = 0$

Factor out the greatest common factor from each group.

Group the first two terms and the last two terms.

$(4 u^{2} - 9 u) - 64 u + 144 = 0$

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

$u (4 u - 9) - 16 (4 u - 9) = 0$

Factor the polynomial by factoring out the greatest common factor, $4 u - 9$ .

$(4 u - 9) (u - 16) = 0$

Step 4

Replace all occurrences of $u$ with $x^{2}$ .

$(4 x^{2} - 9) (x^{2} - 16) = 0$

Step 5

Rewrite $4 x^{2}$ as ${(2 x)}^{2}$ .

$({(2 x)}^{2} - 9) (x^{2} - 16) = 0$

Step 6

Rewrite $9$ as $3^{2}$ .

$({(2 x)}^{2} - 3^{2}) (x^{2} - 16) = 0$

Step 7

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

$(2 x + 3) (2 x - 3) (x^{2} - 16) = 0$

Step 8

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

$(2 x + 3) (2 x - 3) (x^{2} - 4^{2}) = 0$

Step 9

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 $b = 4$ .

$(2 x + 3) (2 x - 3) ((x + 4) (x - 4)) = 0$

Remove unnecessary parentheses.

$(2 x + 3) (2 x - 3) (x + 4) (x - 4) = 0$

Step 10

If any individual factor on the left side of the equation is equal to $0$ , the entire expression will be equal to $0$ .

$2 x + 3 = 0$

$2 x - 3 = 0$

$x + 4 = 0$

$x - 4 = 0$

Step 11

Set $2 x + 3$ equal to $0$ and solve for $x$ .

Set $2 x + 3$ equal to $0$ .

$2 x + 3 = 0$

Solve $2 x + 3 = 0$ for $x$ .

Subtract $3$ from both sides of the equation.

$2 x = - 3$

Divide each term in $2 x = - 3$ by $2$ and simplify.

Divide each term in $2 x = - 3$ by $2$ .

$\frac{2 x}{2} = \frac{- 3}{2}$

Simplify the left side.

Cancel the common factor of $2$ .

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{2 x}{2} = \frac{- 3}{2}$

Divide $x$ by $1$ .

$x = \frac{- 3}{2}$

Simplify the right side.

Move the negative in front of the fraction.

$x = - \frac{3}{2}$

Step 12

Set $2 x - 3$ equal to $0$ and solve for $x$ .

Set $2 x - 3$ equal to $0$ .

$2 x - 3 = 0$

Solve $2 x - 3 = 0$ for $x$ .

Add $3$ to both sides of the equation.

$2 x = 3$

Divide each term in $2 x = 3$ by $2$ and simplify.

Divide each term in $2 x = 3$ by $2$ .

$\frac{2 x}{2} = \frac{3}{2}$

Simplify the left side.

Cancel the common factor of $2$ .

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{2 x}{2} = \frac{3}{2}$

Divide $x$ by $1$ .

$x = \frac{3}{2}$

Step 13

Set $x + 4$ equal to $0$ and solve for $x$ .

Set $x + 4$ equal to $0$ .

$x + 4 = 0$

Subtract $4$ from both sides of the equation.

$x = - 4$

Step 14

Set $x - 4$ equal to $0$ and solve for $x$ .

Set $x - 4$ equal to $0$ .

$x - 4 = 0$

Add $4$ to both sides of the equation.

$x = 4$

Step 15

The final solution is all the values that make $(2 x + 3) (2 x - 3) (x + 4) (x - 4) = 0$ true.

$x = - \frac{3}{2}, \frac{3}{2}, - 4, 4$

Solve by Factoring 4x^4-73x^2+144=0

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