Solve by Factoring x^4-14x^2+40=0

$x^{4} - 14 x^{2} + 40 = 0$

Step 1

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

${(x^{2})}^{2} - 14 x^{2} + 40 = 0$

Step 2

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

$u^{2} - 14 u + 40 = 0$

Step 3

Factor $u^{2} - 14 u + 40$ using the AC method.

Consider the form $x^{2} + b x + c$ . Find a pair of integers whose product is $c$ and whose sum is $b$ . In this case, whose product is $40$ and whose sum is $- 14$ .

$- 10, - 4$

Write the factored form using these integers.

$(u - 10) (u - 4) = 0$

Step 4

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

$(x^{2} - 10) (x^{2} - 4) = 0$

Step 5

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

$(x^{2} - 10) (x^{2} - 2^{2}) = 0$

Step 6

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 $b = 2$ .

$(x^{2} - 10) ((x + 2) (x - 2)) = 0$

Remove unnecessary parentheses.

$(x^{2} - 10) (x + 2) (x - 2) = 0$

Step 7

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

$x^{2} - 10 = 0$

$x + 2 = 0$

$x - 2 = 0$

Step 8

Set $x^{2} - 10$ equal to $0$ and solve for $x$ .

Set $x^{2} - 10$ equal to $0$ .

$x^{2} - 10 = 0$

Solve $x^{2} - 10 = 0$ for $x$ .

Add $10$ to both sides of the equation.

$x^{2} = 10$

Take the specified root of both sides of the equation to eliminate the exponent on the left side.

$x = \pm \sqrt{10}$

The complete solution is the result of both the positive and negative portions of the solution.

First, use the positive value of the $\pm$ to find the first solution.

$x = \sqrt{10}$

Next, use the negative value of the $\pm$ to find the second solution.

$x = - \sqrt{10}$

The complete solution is the result of both the positive and negative portions of the solution.

$x = \sqrt{10}, - \sqrt{10}$

Step 9

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

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

$x + 2 = 0$

Subtract $2$ from both sides of the equation.

$x = - 2$

Step 10

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

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

$x - 2 = 0$

Add $2$ to both sides of the equation.

$x = 2$

Step 11

The final solution is all the values that make $(x^{2} - 10) (x + 2) (x - 2) = 0$ true.

$x = \sqrt{10}, - \sqrt{10}, - 2, 2$

Step 12

The result can be shown in multiple forms.

Exact Form:

$x = \sqrt{10}, - \sqrt{10}, - 2, 2$

Decimal Form:

$x = 3.16227766 \dots, - 3.16227766 \dots, - 2, 2$

Solve by Factoring x^4-14x^2+40=0

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