Algebra Examples

$- x^{2} + 9$

Step 1

Factor $- 1$ out of $- x^{2} + 9$ .

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Step 1.1

Factor $- 1$ out of $- x^{2}$ .

$- (x^{2}) + 9$

Step 1.2

Rewrite $9$ as $- 1 (- 9)$ .

$- (x^{2}) - 1 (- 9)$

Step 1.3

Factor $- 1$ out of $- (x^{2}) - 1 (- 9)$ .

$- (x^{2} - 9)$

Step 2

Rewrite $9$ as $3^{2}$ .

$- (x^{2} - 3^{2})$

Step 3

Factor.

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Step 3.1

Since both terms are perfect squares, factor using the difference of squares formula, $a^{2} - b^{2} = (a + b) (a - b)$ where $a = x$ and $b = 3$ .

$- ((x + 3) (x - 3))$

Step 3.2

Remove unnecessary parentheses.

$- (x + 3) (x - 3)$