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:
$$ \color{blue}{ b = -45 } ~ \text{ and } ~ \color{red}{ c = 324 }$$Now we must discover two numbers that sum up to $ \color{blue}{ -45 } $ and multiply to $ \color{red}{ 324 } $.
Step 2: Find out pairs of numbers with a product of $\color{red}{ c = 324 }$.
| PRODUCT = 324 | |
| 1 324 | -1 -324 |
| 2 162 | -2 -162 |
| 3 108 | -3 -108 |
| 4 81 | -4 -81 |
| 6 54 | -6 -54 |
| 9 36 | -9 -36 |
| 12 27 | -12 -27 |
| 18 18 | -18 -18 |
Step 3: Find out which pair sums up to $\color{blue}{ b = -45 }$
| PRODUCT = 324 and SUM = -45 | |
| 1 324 | -1 -324 |
| 2 162 | -2 -162 |
| 3 108 | -3 -108 |
| 4 81 | -4 -81 |
| 6 54 | -6 -54 |
| 9 36 | -9 -36 |
| 12 27 | -12 -27 |
| 18 18 | -18 -18 |
Step 4: Put -9 and -36 into placeholders to get factored form.
$$ \begin{aligned} y^{2}-45y+324 & = (x + \color{orangered}{\square} )(x + \color{orangered}{\square}) \\ y^{2}-45y+324 & = (x -9)(x -36) \end{aligned} $$