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Algebra Difficulty 3.3 AMC 10/12 Find the answer

Which of the following expressions is a factorization from left to right?

Pick one

Solution

To determine which of the given expressions represents a factorization from left to right, let's examine each option step by step:

**Option A: 2a2b2=(a+b)(ab)+a22a^{2}-b^{2}=\left(a+b\right)\left(a-b\right)+a^{2}**

- The expression on the right side, (a+b)(ab)+a2\left(a+b\right)\left(a-b\right)+a^{2}, does not simplify to the left side, 2a2b22a^{2}-b^{2}, because (a+b)(ab)=a2b2\left(a+b\right)\left(a-b\right) = a^2 - b^2. Adding a2a^2 to this would result in 2a2b2+a22a^2 - b^2 + a^2, which is not the original expression. Therefore, this is not a correct factorization.

**Option B: 2a(b+c)=2ab+2ac2a\left(b+c\right)=2ab+2ac**

- This expression represents the distributive property, where 2a2a is multiplied by both bb and cc, resulting in 2ab+2ac2ab + 2ac. This is a correct application of polynomial multiplication, but it is not a factorization process. Therefore, this option does not represent a factorization.

**Option C: x32x2+x=x(x1)2x^{3}-2x^{2}+x=x\left(x-1\right)^{2}**

- To verify this, let's expand the right side:
x(x1)2=x(x22x+1)=x32x2+x x(x-1)^2 = x(x^2 - 2x + 1) = x^3 - 2x^2 + x
This matches the original expression on the left side, indicating that this is indeed a correct factorization.

**Option D: x2+x=x2(1+1x)x^{2}+x=x^{2}\left(1+\frac{1}{x}\right)**

- Simplifying the right side gives x2+x2(1x)=x2+xx^2 + x^2\left(\frac{1}{x}\right) = x^2 + x, which matches the left side. However, the expression involves division by xx, which is not a typical form of polynomial factorization. Therefore, this option does not represent a standard factorization.

Based on the analysis, the correct answer is:

C \boxed{C}

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.