Why use this resource?
This resource is designed both to help students develop a reliable technique for factorising quadratics if they have not already done so, and also to develop a sensitivity for some of the subtleties inherent in this.
It can also be developed into a method for division of polynomials.
Key questions
In the grids, there seem to be some common factors in some of the rows and columns. How can we use this to help us factorise quadratics?
In the grids, there seems to be some relationship between the two diagonals in each grid. How can we use this to help us factorise quadratics?
Possible extension
How could this idea be extended to polynomial division?