Basic Math Examples

$a^{4} - 5 a^{2} + 4$

Step 1

Rewrite $a^{4}$ as ${(a^{2})}^{2}$ .

${(a^{2})}^{2} - 5 a^{2} + 4$

Step 2

Let $u = a^{2}$ . Substitute $u$ for all occurrences of $a^{2}$ .

$u^{2} - 5 u + 4$

Step 3

Factor $u^{2} - 5 u + 4$ using the AC method.

Tap for more steps...

Step 3.1

Consider the form $x^{2} + b x + c$ . Find a pair of integers whose product is $c$ and whose sum is $b$ . In this case, whose product is $4$ and whose sum is $- 5$ .

$- 4, - 1$

Step 3.2

Write the factored form using these integers.

$(u - 4) (u - 1)$

Step 4

Replace all occurrences of $u$ with $a^{2}$ .

$(a^{2} - 4) (a^{2} - 1)$

Step 5

Rewrite $4$ as $2^{2}$ .

$(a^{2} - 2^{2}) (a^{2} - 1)$

Step 6

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

$(a + 2) (a - 2) (a^{2} - 1)$

Step 7

Rewrite $1$ as $1^{2}$ .

$(a + 2) (a - 2) (a^{2} - 1^{2})$

Step 8

Factor.

Tap for more steps...

Step 8.1

Since both terms are perfect squares, factor using the difference of squares formula, $a^{2} - b^{2} = (a + b) (a - b)$ where $a = a$ and $b = 1$ .

$(a + 2) (a - 2) ((a + 1) (a - 1))$

Step 8.2

Remove unnecessary parentheses.

$(a + 2) (a - 2) (a + 1) (a - 1)$