(2x+5)(x-3) Firstly, consider the first term. Since it's 2 x 2 , there are only two linear factors that it can be 'broken down' into: x and 2 x . Thus we can re-write the expression 2 x 2 − x − 15 as ( 2 x + a ) ( x + b ) where a and b are real numbers to be determined
