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'Factorise' and 'factorise fully'

Asked around but no one seems to know, do these terms mean the same thing; the questions tend to follow each other in exams.. I'm sitting AQA btw.

Thanks!

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Reply 1

Mr M

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Fully factorise

2a^2 + 10a

These are factorised:

2(a^2 + 5a)

a(2a+10)

This is fully factorised:

2a(a + 5)

Spot the difference?

Reply 2

sksksk1

I'm so bad with this side of maths! I do see the difference, but how do you know which is factorised and which is fully factorised? sorry, probably a stupid question to you, but it really just goes right over my head along with quadratics and simultaneous equations! ahh.

Reply 3

k1zza1

Factorised means taking out only one factor
Fully factorised means taking out all applicable factors :smile:

Reply 4

steviep14

basically fully factorised is in its simplest terms.. in the example above a(2a+10) is factorised but can be made simpler... if you get what i mean 2a(a+5) has the simplest term possible in the bracket.. i hope you get what i mean.. btw im doing edexcel gcse maths :smile:

Reply 5

sksksk1

Yes, I see where you're going, for instance in fractions, I could leave a fraction as 25/50, but to simplify to fully I would put 1/2. Is it the same principle?

Everything else I get no problem! It's just this!

Thanks for your help guys.

Reply 6

Ewan

You need to remove all factors, the result needs to be irreducible. Look at Mr M's example, you'll see that a+5 is irreducible, while 2a+10 is not.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 7

A Perfect Circle

To be fair, you should get into the habit of always factorising fully. It helps later on where you need to cancel certain things or anything like that. Plus it's neater and easier to work with.

Reply 8

steviep14

yes thats it.. so basically you factorise it so far that no more can be done just like the fraction you said.. removing all factors :smile:

thats all it is... good luck with your exam

Reply 9

nerimon18

Original post by sksksk1

Asked around but no one seems to know, do these terms mean the same thing; the questions tend to follow each other in exams.. I'm sitting AQA btw.

Thanks!

Hey if you're struggling to get your head around this, this video might be of help to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKFgPLcgG4U

Best of luck in that exam! :wink:

Reply 10

bronn

Just fully factorise all of them! Doubt you'd lose a mark.

Reply 11

mr tim

Yeah, I recommend you factorise fully, unless otherwise stated in the question [didn't really see one when I was doing GCSEs 2 years ago]...

Reply 12

sksksk1

Thank you all, especially Nerimon! that video has helped me loads!! thanks again!!

Reply 13

nerimon18

Original post by sksksk1

Thank you all, especially Nerimon! that video has helped me loads!! thanks again!!

No problem. Feel free to message me if you have any more problems. Especially with surds. I am the surds DON.

Why the neg rep? I am the surds DON!

Ah well, haters gonna rotate.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 14

steve2005

Original post by k1zza1

Factorised means taking out only one factor
Fully factorised means taking out all applicable factors :smile:

No.

If you are asked to factorise then you should take out ALL factors. When they say fully factorise they are giving you a clue that the facctorisation is a little bit more complicated.

Reply 15

k1zza1

Original post by steve2005

No.

If you are asked to factorise then you should take out ALL factors. When they say fully factorise they are giving you a clue that the facctorisation is a little bit more complicated.

So how are you supposed to know what to do when they ask you to do both in alternate questions?
For the OP's question this is the most relevant definition