Factor polynomial $$ -4x^{2}-41x-10 $$

$$ -4x^{2}-41x-10 = -( 4x+1 )( x+10 ) $$

Step 1 :

After factoring out $ -1 $ we have:

$$ -4x^{2}-41x-10 = - ~ ( 4x^{2}+41x+10 ) $$

Step 2 :

Step 2: Identify constants $ a $ , $ b $ and $ c $.
$ a $ is a number in front of the $ x^2 $ term $ b $ is a number in front of the $ x $ term and $ c $ is a constant. In this case:

$$ a = 4 , b = 41 ~ \text{ and } ~ c = 10 $$

Step 3: Multiply the leading coefficient $\color{blue}{ a = 4 }$ by the constant term $\color{blue}{c = 10} $.

$$ a \cdot c = 40 $$

Step 4: Find out two numbers that multiply to $ a \cdot c = 40 $ and add to $ b = 41 $.

Step 5: All pairs of numbers with a product of $ 40 $ are:

PRODUCT = 40
1     40	-1     -40
2     20	-2     -20
4     10	-4     -10
5     8	-5     -8

Step 6: Find out which factor pair sums up to $\color{blue}{ b = 41 }$

PRODUCT = 40 and SUM = 41
1     40	-1     -40
2     20	-2     -20
4     10	-4     -10
5     8	-5     -8

Step 7: Replace middle term $ 41 x $ with $ 40x+x $:

$$ 4x^{2}+41x+10 = 4x^{2}+40x+x+10 $$

Step 8: Apply factoring by grouping. Factor $ 4x $ out of the first two terms and $ 1 $ out of the last two terms.

$$ 4x^{2}+40x+x+10 = 4x\left(x+10\right) + 1\left(x+10\right) = \left(4x+1\right) \left(x+10\right) $$

Polynomial Factoring Calculator