Which are factors of x² - 4x - 5? Check all that apply.
(x - 5), (x - 4),(x - 2), (x + 1),(x + 5)

Solution:

Let us factorise the polynomial to find the value of x by splitting the middle term.

Step 1:

Identify the values of a, b and c.

In the above equation, a is coefficient of x² = 1,

b is the coefficient of x which is - 4 and c is the constant term = - 5.

Step 2:

Multiply a and c and find the factors that add up to b.

1 × (- 5) = - 5 

⇒ - 5 and 1 are the factors that add up to b.

Step 3:

Split bx into two terms.

x² - 5x + 1x - 5 = 0

Step 4:

Take out the common factors by grouping.

x(x - 5) + 1 (x - 5) = 0

(x - 5) (x + 1) = 0

By putting the factors equal to zero we get two values of x

x - 5 = 0 and x + 1 = 0

x = 5 and x = - 1

Thus, the two values that satisfy the equation are 5 and - 1.

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Which are factors of x² - 4x - 5? Check all that apply.
(x - 5), (x - 4),(x - 2), (x + 1),(x + 5)

Summary:

(x - 5) ( x + 1) are the solutions that apply to the equation x² - 4x - 5.