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MA10-06 Maths Coming soon

Factorising a General Quadratic ax^2+bx+c

MA10-06

This lesson is coming soon.

In this lesson

Factorise a general quadratic ax^2+bx+c where the leading coefficient is not 1, using a systematic method to split the middle term.

What it covers

  • Factorising ax^2+bx+c where a is a positive integer not equal to 1, using the ac-method (find two numbers multiplying to a*c and summing to b, then split and group) to split the middle term

Key words

For: AQA GCSE 8300, Edexcel GCSE 1MA1, Eduqas GCSE C300, Edexcel IGCSE 4MA1, OCR GCSE J560, Cambridge IGCSE 0580

On the specification

BoardSpecStatement
AQA GCSE 8300A4Notation, vocabulary and manipulation
Edexcel GCSE 1MA1A4Notation, vocabulary and manipulation
Eduqas GCSE C300HA4Simplify and manipulate algebraic expressions (including those involving surds and algebraic fractions) by: collecting like terms; multiplying a single term over a bracket; taking out common factors; expanding products of two or more binomials; factorising quadratic expressions of the form x² + bx + c, including the difference of two squares; factorising quadratic expressions of the form ax² + bx + c; completing the square; simplifying expressions involving sums, products and powers, including the laws of indices
Edexcel IGCSE 4MA1H2.2BUnderstand the concept of a quadratic expression and be able to factorise such expressions
OCR GCSE J5606.01eTake out common factors.
Cambridge IGCSE 0580E2.2Simplify expressions by collecting like terms.
For teachers

This GCSE Maths lesson teaches factorising a general quadratic ax²+bx+c. By the end, students should be able to factorise a general quadratic ax^2+bx+c where the leading coefficient is not 1, using a systematic method to split the middle term. It works through two worked examples and the mistakes examiners report.