What you’ll learn to do: Apply basic factoring methods.

In this section we will introduce factoring methods that will allow you to solve certain kinds of polynomial equations. While factoring is used in a variety of applications, solving equations is one of the ways it is most widely used. Factoring can help simplify mathematical expressions by splitting them into parts, which makes mathematical expressions easier to gain information from and use.

Specifically, in this section you’ll learn how to:

• Use the principle of zero products to solve equations
• Find the greatest common factor of two numbers
• Factor the greatest common monomial out of a polynomial
• Solve a polynomial in factored form by setting it equal to zero

Before you get started, take this readiness quiz.