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Factorizations

The document discusses the importance of factorization in solving polynomial expressions, particularly using Bezout's theorem and several common factorization formulas. It provides methods for identifying potential factors, such as looking for symmetry and completing the square. Additionally, it includes examples and exercises for practice in factoring various expressions.

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2 views

Factorizations

The document discusses the importance of factorization in solving polynomial expressions, particularly using Bezout's theorem and several common factorization formulas. It provides methods for identifying potential factors, such as looking for symmetry and completing the square. Additionally, it includes examples and exercises for practice in factoring various expressions.

Uploaded by

kokcio45
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction

Sometimes you will be given really bad looking expressions. It can be in inequality problems,
systems of equations and some others. In most of situations this expressions will factor really
nicely, so it’s helpful to know how to find factorization of some expressions. It isn’t crucial, but it
can save you some time or even help solve whole problem, so it’s nice to know.

How to factor?
This is question for which there aren’t loads of options. In most of cases you have some polynomial
expressions, so we will care only about them for now. The most helpful theorem will be Bezout
theorem in our situation. It says that if we have some polynomial P (x, y, ..., sth) of few variables
(maybe 1), then (x − Q(y)) can be factored if x = Q(y) implies P (x, y, ..., sth) = 0. It is mostly
used in situations, like if x + y = 0 implies that our expression is 0, then we can factor x + y from
our expression.
Except of Bezout theorem, there are some expressions, which are used really often, which you should
know. Here is the list of most important factorizations.
• x2 + 2xy + y 2 = (x + y)2

• x2 − 2xy + y 2 = (x − y)2
• x2 − y 2 = (x − y)(x + y)
• xn − y n = (x − y)(xn−1 + xn−2 y + ... + xy n−2 + y n−1
• xn + y n = (x + y)(xn−1 − xn−2 y + xn−3 y 2 − ... − xy n−2 + y n−1 for odd n.

• x3 + y 3 + z 3 − 3xyz = (x + y + z)(x2 + y 2 + z 2 − xy − yz − zx)


• x4 + 4y 4 = (x2 − 2xy + 2y 2 )(x2 + 2xy + 2y 2 )
This two last factorizations are less known, but they are used really often. But, how to get to
them???
Assume that we have some polynomial. Then one of the ways to factor it is to try factor some nice
expression. For example, you should try if things like x + y, x − y, x + y + z, x2 + xy + y 2 ,etc. can
be factored from your expression.
Secondly, you should look for some symmetry. If there is symmetry in your expression (for example
(x − y)3 + (y − z)3 + (z − x)3 ), then if x − y (or any other thing) can be factored out this expression,
then by symmetry y − z and z − x (or symmetric expressions to thing, which you are trying to
factor out) can also be factored out from this expression.
Thirdly, you can try sometimes to complete to square. For example, in expression x4 + 4y 4 we can
add 4x2 y 2 − 4x2 y 2 (we can add only 0) to get expression x4 + 4x2 y 2 + 4y 4 − 4x2 y 2 = (x2 + 2y 2 )2 −
(2xy)2 = (x2 − 2xy + 2y 2 )(x2 + 2xy + 2y 2 ).

1
Examples
k k
x2 − y 2
k k k−1 k−1 k−1
To factor this we can use factorization for difference of squares. x2 − y 2 = (x2 + y 2 )(x2 −
k−1 k−1 k−1 k−2 k−2 k−2 k−2 k−1 k−1 k−2 k−2
y 2 ) = (x2 + y 2 )(x2 + y 2 )(x2 − y 2 ) = ... = (x2 + y 2 )(x2 + y 2 )...(x2 +
2
y )(x + y)(x − y)

x4 + x2 y 2 + y 4
If there are only even powers (but not only then), then you should try to complete to square.
In this situation we have x4 + x2 y 2 + y 4 = x4 + 2x2 y 2 + y 4 − x2 y 2 = (x2 + y 2 )2 − (xy)2 =
(x2 − xy + y 2 )(x2 + xy + y 2 )

(x + y)3 − x3 − y 3
We can expand this expression to have (x + y)3 − x3 − y 3 = 3x2 y + 3xy 2 = 3xy(x + y)

(x + y)(y + z)(z + x) + xyz


This is a little bit harder, because it doesn’t seem to factor nicely, even after expanding. Therefore,
we can try to check, whether we can factor x + y or x − y, but this still leads to nowhere, because if
x + y = 0 or x − y = 0, then we don’t have to have (x + y)(y + z)(z + x) + xyz = 0. Nevertheless, we
shouldn’t give up. In this situation we should keep trying to factor things like x + y + z, x + y − z
and some similar. Fortunately, we can see that if x + y + z = 0, then (x + y)(y + z)(z + x) + xyz =
(−z)(−x)(−y) + xyz = −xyz + xyz = 0, so we will be able to factor x + y + z out of this expression.
We have (x+y)(y+z)(z+x)+xyz = x2 y+x2 z+y 2 x+y 2 z+z 2 x+z 2 y+3xyz = (x+y+z)(xy+yz+zx).
To find this second polynomial xy + yz + zx we can just to this in greedy way. You can be sure
that this approach will work.

y(x − 2z)2 + 8xyz + x(y − 2z)2 − 2z(x + y)2

Exercises
Factorize following expressions:
1. (x + y)5 − x5 − y 5
2. (x + y + z)3 − x3 − y 3 − z 3

3. (x − y)5 + (y − z)5 + (z − x)5


4. (xy + yz + zx)(x + y + z) − xyz
5. xy(x + y) + yz(y − z) − xz(x + z)

2
6. xy 3 + yz 3 + zx3 − x3 y − y 3 z − z 3 x
7. 4(x2 + xy + y 2 )3 − 27x2 y 2 (x + y)2
8. x2 y 2 z 2 + (x2 + yz)(y 2 + zx)(z 2 + xy)

9. (x2 − yz)3 + (y 2 − zx)3 + (z 2 − xy)3 − 3(x2 − yz)(y 2 − zx)(z 2 − xy)


10. x3 (z − y 2 ) + y 3 (x − z 2 ) + z 3 (y − x2 ) + xyz(xyz − 1)
11. ((x2 + y 2 )(a2 + b2 ) + 4abxy)2 − 4(xy(a2 + b2 ) + ab(x2 + y 2 ))2

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