To find the factors of the expression m² + 12m + 20, we need to factor this quadratic expression. The goal is to express it as a product of two binomials.
First, we look for two numbers that multiply together to give us 20 (the constant term) and add up to 12 (the coefficient of the m term). After checking various pairs of factors of 20, we find:
- 1 and 20: 1 + 20 = 21
- 2 and 10: 2 + 10 = 12
- 4 and 5: 4 + 5 = 9
The right pair is 2 and 10. Therefore, we can factor the expression as:
(m + 2)(m + 10)
Thus, the factors of m² + 12m + 20 are (m + 2) and (m + 10).