Recognize Quadratic Expression: Recognize the quadratic expression as a difference of squares. The quadratic expression x2−16 can be written as x2−42, which is a difference of squares since both x and 4 are squared.
Apply Difference of Squares Formula: Apply the difference of squares formula. The difference of squares formula is a2−b2=(a+b)(a−b). Here, a is x and b is 4.
Write as Product of Binomials: Write the expression as the product of two binomials using the formula.Using the formula from Step 2, we have (x+4)(x−4).
Check Result by Expanding: Check the result by expanding the binomials.To ensure there are no math errors, we can multiply the binomials to see if we get the original expression:(x+4)(x−4)=x2−4x+4x−16=x2−16.The middle terms cancel each other out, and we are left with the original expression, confirming that the factorization is correct.
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