Thread: confused while trying to factor this

y^3-y^2+3y-3 is what im factoring

the book says the answer is (y-1)(y^2+3)

i dont know how it gets there

heres what i try to do:
(y^3-y^2)+(3y-3)
-y^2(y-1) + 3(y-1)

(y-1)(-y^2+3)

what am i doing wrong?
as usual, thanks for any help. this site really helps me out

Originally Posted by NecroWinter

y^3-y^2+3y-3 is what im factoring

the book says the answer is (y-1)(y^2+3)

i dont know how it gets there

heres what i try to do:
(y^3-y^2)+(3y-3)
-y^2(y-1) + 3(y-1) : the common factor for the first term should be y^2.

(y-1)(-y^2+3)

what am i doing wrong?
as usual, thanks for any help. this site really helps me out

Look at the line in red. You error is there.

ok now that leads me to a new question

my book has me factoring out negative numbers as well sometimes, how do you know what youre supposed to do? is it just when a negative number is all the way to the left?

You can take a negative factor here as well.









You can follow whichever way you think is convenient.

double posted by mistake..