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Factorising rewrites an expression as a product of factors — taking out common factors, factorising quadratics into double brackets, and the difference of two squares. It's a core topic in GCSE and iGCSE Maths with Edexcel and the other major boards. This free interactive course teaches the method with worked examples and gives instant-feedback practice questions to lock it in.
How you do it
Take out the highest common factor of every term, numbers and letters both. For a quadratic with 1 in front of x squared, find two numbers that multiply to the constant and add to the x coefficient. When there is a number in front, split the middle term and factorise in pairs.
Before you start
The prerequisite is expanding brackets and finding common factors. Assessed at Foundation and Higher tier. Keep it sharp for solving quadratics and algebraic fractions. Filed under Algebra.
What you learn
We look for a common factor to take outside a single bracket, and for quadratics we find the pair of brackets that multiply to give the expression. To factorise x² + bx + c, find two numbers that multiply to c and add to b. The course works through common factors, factorising with letters and factorising quadratics. Every section has instant-feedback practice questions matched to Edexcel iGCSE 4MA1 and the other major GCSE boards, and the course finishes with full exam-style questions you mark yourself.
Related Topics
In our GCSE maths courses, Factorising belongs to Algebra and is met in Foundation tier. It runs to 3 concepts, each followed by a check, with 2 worked examples along the way. Nearby topics in the same strand are Functions, Gradients & Rates of Change and Inequalities. For unlimited practice, the Algebra revision engine builds new questions on demand and records your accuracy.
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