We want to find the greatest common factor (GCF) of the terms in the given expression. To do so, we will consider coefficients and variables separately.
3 t^2- 24 t
Let's start by finding the GCF of 3 and 24.
Factors of3:& 1and 3
Factors of24:& 1,2, 3,4,6,8,12, and 24
We found that the GCF of the coefficients is 3. To find the GCF of the variables, we need to identify the all possible variable factors in both terms.
\begin{aligned}
\textbf{Factors of }\bm{1^\textbf{st}}\textbf{ Variable:}&\ {\color{#FF0000}{t}}, t^2\\
\textbf{Factors of }\bm{2^\textbf{nd}}\textbf{ Variable:}&\ {\color{#FF0000}{t}}
\end{aligned}
We see that there is one repeated variable factor, t.
Thus, the GCF of the expression is 3* t= 3t. Now we can write the given expression in terms of the GCF.
3t^2-24t ⇔ 3t* t- 3t* 8
Finally, we will factor out the GCF.
3t* t- 3t* 8 ⇔ 3t(t-8)
Checking Our Answer
Check your answer âś“
To check our answer, we can apply the Distributive Property and compare the result with the given expression.