I've got a polynomial factoring problem that I'm finding tough. Usually I can just breeze through these without much thought (as they're typically just adding and multiplying) but this one really got me puzzled:
\(\displaystyle x^4-11x^2y^2+y^4\)
This is from a Schaum's pre-calculus book. I have the factors already, and multiplying them back gets the right answer, so I'm not worried about that. I just don't see what the first step in factoring this thing might be. How did they derive that answer they gave? GCF is out, grouping is out (or is it?), is this demonstrating completing the square, or am I missing something obvious?
I'm also going to copy this here in a non LaTex form:
x^4-11x^2y^2+y^4
\(\displaystyle x^4-11x^2y^2+y^4\)
This is from a Schaum's pre-calculus book. I have the factors already, and multiplying them back gets the right answer, so I'm not worried about that. I just don't see what the first step in factoring this thing might be. How did they derive that answer they gave? GCF is out, grouping is out (or is it?), is this demonstrating completing the square, or am I missing something obvious?
I'm also going to copy this here in a non LaTex form:
x^4-11x^2y^2+y^4