Factor the Expression: 21ab - 63a²/b - 14ba²

Question

Decompose the following expression into factors:

21ab63a2b14ba2 21ab-\frac{63a^2}{b}-14ba^2

Video Solution

Step-by-Step Solution

To solve the problem of decomposing the expression 21ab63a2b14ba2 21ab - \frac{63a^2}{b} - 14ba^2 into factors, we will follow these steps:

  • Step 1: Identify the Greatest Common Factor (GCF).
  • Step 2: Factor out the GCF.
  • Step 3: Verify the result by expanding to check that it matches the original expression.

Let's go through each step:

Step 1: Find the GCF of the terms. Examine each term in the expression:

- The three terms are 21ab 21ab , 63a2b -\frac{63a^2}{b} , and 14ba2 -14ba^2 .
- The coefficients 21 21 , 631 \frac{63}{1} , and 14 14 share a common factor of 7 7 .
- The variables a a and b b are present in each term. Each term has at least one a a and one b b .
- Thus, the GCF is 7ab 7ab .

Step 2: Factor out the GCF 7ab 7ab from the expression:

21ab=7ab×3 21ab = 7ab \times 3
63a2b=7ab×(9ab2) -\frac{63a^2}{b} = 7ab \times \left(-\frac{9a}{b^2}\right)
14ba2=7ab×(2a) -14ba^2 = 7ab \times (-2a)

Combining these, the expression factors as:

7ab(39ab22a) 7ab(3 - \frac{9a}{b^2} - 2a)

Step 3: Verify by expanding the factored expression:

- Expanding 7ab(39ab22a) 7ab(3 - \frac{9a}{b^2} - 2a) :
7ab×3=21ab 7ab \times 3 = 21ab
7ab×(9ab2)=63a2b 7ab \times \left(-\frac{9a}{b^2}\right) = -\frac{63a^2}{b}
7ab×(2a)=14ba2 7ab \times (-2a) = -14ba^2

These match the original expression, confirming the factorization is correct.

Therefore, the solution to the problem is 7ab(39ab22a) 7ab(3-\frac{9a}{b^2}-2a) .

Answer

7ab(39ab22a) 7ab(3-\frac{9a}{b^2}-2a)