To factor the expression 20x², we start by looking for the greatest common factor of the coefficients and the variable. In this case, 20 is a coefficient of the term x².
The first step is to break down 20 into its prime factors. The prime factorization of 20 is:
- 20 = 2 × 2 × 5
Next, we can see that x² can be factored as x × x. Therefore, we can write:
- 20x² = 2 × 2 × 5 × x × x
Now, we can group the factors together. Since there are no common factors to be factored out further besides the coefficient, we note that:
- 20x² = 20(x)(x)
Thus, the expression 20x² can be factored as:
- 20x² = 20x × x
In conclusion, the expression is already in its factored form with 20 as the coefficient and x² indicating that it is a variable squared. There are no further factors to extract, and this is the simplest form.