Factorising Expressions - Single Brackets | Algebra | Maths | FuseSchool
Channel: FuseSchool - Global Education
Date: 30/08/2017

It is know as factorising in England and factoring in America. They mean to put an expression into brackets. We say it has been factorised. Numbers have factors, the factors of 6 are 1, 2, 3 and 6. Expressions can also have factors like this: 6x - 12 = 3(2x - 4). Factorising is the process of finding the factors. It’s a form of simplifying, and basically just means to put into brackets. Then if we multiplied our factors together 3(2x - 4) , we’d get back to 6x - 12. Factorising is just the opposite of expanding brackets: expanding gets rid of brackets, factorising puts into brackets. To factorise, we look for the highest common factor of every part of the expression. Which was 3 in this example. Let’s look at another example: factorise 12x - 8. What is the highest common factor of 12x and -8? 2 goes into both, but it’s not the HIGHEST. We want the highest common factor, which is 4. So take 4 outside of the bracket - as that’s the highest factor: 4( ). Then what do we need to multiply 4 by to get 12x? 3x, so 3x inside the bracket: 4(3x ). And what do we need to multiply 4 by to get -8? -2, so that also goes inside the bracket: 4(3x - 2). This is the factorised expression. It is really important to check our answer - so we expand to double check ourselves. Another example: 6y^2 + 12y = 6y(y + 2). Always expand the brackets to check your answer. In this video we have just looked at factorising into one bracket, but you can factorise into 2, 3 and many more brackets.

SUBSCRIBE to the FuseSchool YouTube channel for many more educational videos. Our teachers and animators come together to make fun & easy-to-understand videos in Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Maths & ICT.

VISIT us at www.fuseschool.org, where all of our videos are carefully organised into topics and specific orders, and to see what else we have on offer. Comment, like and share with other learners. You can both ask and answer questions, and teachers will get back to you.

These videos can be used in a flipped classroom model or as a revision aid. 

Find all of our Chemistry videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRnpKjHpFyg&list=PLW0gavSzhMlReKGMVfUt6YuNQsO0bqSMV 

Find all of our Biology videos here: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjkHzEVcyrE&list=PLW0gavSzhMlQYSpKryVcEr3ERup5SxHl0 

Find all of our Maths videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJq_cdz_L00&list=PLW0gavSzhMlTyWKCgW1616v3fIywogoZQ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fuseSchool

Access a deeper Learning Experience in the FuseSchool platform and app: www.fuseschool.org
Follow us: http://www.youtube.com/fuseschool
Friend us: http://www.facebook.com/fuseschool

This Open Educational Resource is free of charge, under a Creative Commons License: Attribution-NonCommercial CC BY-NC ( View License Deed: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ ).  You are allowed to download the video for nonprofit, educational use. If you would like to modify the video, please contact us: info@fuseschool.org