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How do you factorise x^2 - 4?

x^2 - 4 consider that in any quadratic the two numbers which end up in the brackets at the end must add up to the middle term in x. they must also multiply to make the number at the end of the quadratic t...

Answered by Zachary M. • Maths tutor

8989 Views

Show that (x+1)(x+2)(x+3) can be written in the form ax^3 +bx^2 + cx + d where a,b,c,d are positive integers.

First we shall expand two of the brackets to obtain a quadratic equation and then multiply each term by the remaining bracket. The order with which we expand the brackets does not matter. Use the FOIL met...

Answered by Scott W. • Maths tutor

8901 Views

Tom thinks of a number. He squares it, adds 3 times the original number and then subtracts 18. The result is 0. What two numbers could Tom have been thinking of?

Formulate the problem algebraically:x²+3x-18=0This is a factorisation problem. To find the solutions, factorise:-Factors of x² are 1 and 1, so answe...

Answered by George H. • Maths tutor

3652 Views

Prove that the square of an odd number is always 1 more than a multiple of 4

This is a nice little question off the 2018 Edexcel Higher Maths paper! When we heard the word 'prove' in a question at this level, automatically we should be thinking about using algebra to help us out! ...

Answered by Thomas R. • Maths tutor

3538 Views

Let f(x)=xln(x)-x. Find f'(x). Hence or otherwise, evaluate the integral of ln(x^3) between 1 and e.

We use the product rule with u=x and v=ln(x) (so u'=1 andv'=1/x) to differentiate xln(x) to ln(x)+1, and -x just differentiates to -1, hence we have. f'(x)=ln(x).
Now note that ln(x^3)=3ln(x) using p...

Answered by Matthew J. • Maths tutor

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