GCSE factorising help

Hi.

I'm doing higher GCSE maths (CCEA) and I can't do factorising with 3 unknowns, like:

6a²x - abx - 12b²

Help please :confused:

Hi.

I'm doing higher GCSE maths (CCEA) and I can't do factorising with 3 unknowns, like:

6a²x - abx - 12b²

Help please :confused:

1. Factorise each term completely; split numbers up into primes and powers into separate factors e.g.

6a^2bc - 12 ab^2c^2 = 2 \times 3 \times a \times a \times b \times c - 2 \times 2 \times 3 \times a \times b \times b \times c \times c

2. Examine each factor in turn and underline those that occur in every term, then take them outside a set of brackets:

2 \times 3 \times a \times a \times b \times c - 2 \times 2 \times 3 \times a \times b \times b \times c \times c = 2 \times 3 \times a \times b \times c(a - 2 \times b \times c)

3. Multiply everything together again:

2 \times 3 \times a \times b \times c(a - 2 \times b \times c) = 6abc(a-2bc)

4. If you have a term made from a single variable factorise it like so:

a = 1 \times a

e.g.

a - ab = 1 \times a - a \times b = a(1-b)

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