Factor polynomial $$ 20x^{3}+16x^{2}+8x $$

$$ 20x^{3}+16x^{2}+8x = 4x( 5x^{2}+4x+2 ) $$

Step 1 :

After factoring out $ 4x $ we have:

$$ 20x^{3}+16x^{2}+8x = 4x ( 5x^{2}+4x+2 ) $$

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:

$$ a = 5 , b = 4 ~ \text{ and } ~ c = 2 $$

Step 3: Multiply the leading coefficient $\color{blue}{ a = 5 }$ by the constant term $\color{blue}{c = 2} $.

$$ a \cdot c = 10 $$

Step 4: Find out two numbers that multiply to $ a \cdot c = 10 $ and add to $ b = 4 $.

Step 5: All pairs of numbers with a product of $ 10 $ are:

PRODUCT = 10
1     10	-1     -10
2     5	-2     -5

Step 6: Find out which factor pair sums up to $\color{blue}{ b = 4 }$

Step 7: Because none of these pairs will give us a sum of $ \color{blue}{ 4 }$, we conclude the polynomial cannot be factored.

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