Q: Factor by Grouping: -4q3u-2q2u-4qu
A: Normally we “factor by grouping” where there are 4 different terms… Our problem only has three terms, but that is no matter. We can still do it!
Start with our problem:
-4q3u-2q2u-4qu
Now I am going to group it like so:
(-4q3u – 2q2u) – (4qu)
Since I see a “4qu” in the back, that is what I am going to factor out of the front, like so:
4qu(-q² – ½q) – 1(4qu)
So, now I can pull a “4qu” out of the first group and out of the second group:
4qu [ -q² – ½q – 1 ]
I have now factored that thing by group. It was not my favorite method for this problem, but it worked.