Factor polynomial $$ m^{2}-3m+2 $$

$$ m^{2}-3m+2 = ( m-1 )( m-2 ) $$

Step 1: Identify constants $ \color{blue}{ b }$ and $\color{red}{ c }$. ( $ \color{blue}{ b }$ is a number in front of the $ x $ term and $ \color{red}{ c } $ is a constant). In our case:

$$ \color{blue}{ b = -3 } ~ \text{ and } ~ \color{red}{ c = 2 }$$

Now we must discover two numbers that sum up to $ \color{blue}{ -3 } $ and multiply to $ \color{red}{ 2 } $.

Step 2: Find out pairs of numbers with a product of $\color{red}{ c = 2 }$.

PRODUCT = 2
1     2	-1     -2

Step 3: Find out which pair sums up to $\color{blue}{ b = -3 }$

PRODUCT = 2 and SUM = -3
1     2	-1     -2

Step 4: Put -1 and -2 into placeholders to get factored form.

$$ \begin{aligned} m^{2}-3m+2 & = (x + \color{orangered}{\square} )(x + \color{orangered}{\square}) \\ m^{2}-3m+2 & = (x -1)(x -2) \end{aligned} $$

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