Can u tell me how to spot the difference between a factorable and a non-factorable equation?
This isn’t something you can readily “spot.” You need to find out something about the polynomial you are trying to factor, especially about its roots. BTW, to begin, we should define “factor.” Technically, you can always factor a polynomial into factors that look like (x-r) where r is a zero. But you probably don’t want imaginary or complex terms, so you probably are looking to factor the polynomial into terms with real coefficients (maybe even rational coefficients, or maybe even just integers). If you have a quadratic like ax^2 + bx + c, you need to see if it has real roots. You can tell this quickly by looking at b^2 – 4ac. If this is 0, it has a double real root, if it’s positive it has two different real roots, and if it’s negative it has two complex roots. This should be obvious to you from the quadratic formula. If you have a cubic, it always has one real root. Factor that out (if you can find it) and then proceed as in prior paragraph. Hope this helps. Factoring can get difficu
