Step 1 :
To factor $ -x^{3}+125 $ we can use difference of cubes formula:
$$ I^3 - II^3 = (I - II)(I^2 + I \cdot II + II^2) $$After putting $ I = 5 $ and $ II = x $ , we have:
$$ -x^{3}+125 = ( -x+5 ) ( x^{2}+5x+25 ) $$Step 2 :
Step 2: 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:
$$ \color{blue}{ b = 5 } ~ \text{ and } ~ \color{red}{ c = 25 }$$Now we must discover two numbers that sum up to $ \color{blue}{ 5 } $ and multiply to $ \color{red}{ 25 } $.
Step 3: Find out pairs of numbers with a product of $\color{red}{ c = 25 }$.
| PRODUCT = 25 | |
| 1 25 | -1 -25 |
| 5 5 | -5 -5 |
Step 4: Because none of these pairs will give us a sum of $ \color{blue}{ 5 }$, we conclude the polynomial cannot be factored.