Special factoring rules come in handy when tackling complex algebraic expressions. There are several critical rules to remember:
- Difference of squares: \( a^2 - b^2 = (a - b)(a + b) \)
- Perfect square trinomials: \(a^2 + 2ab + b^2 = (a+b)^2 \) or \(a^2 - 2ab + b^2 = (a-b)^2 \)
- Sum and difference of cubes: \(a^3 + b^3 = (a + b)(a^2 - ab + b^2) \) and \(a^3 - b^3 = (a - b)(a^2 + ab + b^2) \)
By mastering these rules, you can more easily break down and solve different polynomial equations. In our exercise, we specifically used the perfect square trinomial rule to factor \(y^2 - 1.4y + 0.49 \) into \((y - 0.7)^2 \).