Solution - Other Factorizations

Reformatting the input :

Changes made to your input should not affect the solution:

 (1): "x4"   was replaced by   "x^4". 

Step  1  :

Step  2  :

Pulling out like terms :

 2.1     Pull out like factors :

   x² - x⁴  =   -x² • (x² - 1) 

Trying to factor as a Difference of Squares :

 2.2      Factoring:  x² - 1 

Theory : A difference of two perfect squares,  A² - B²  can be factored into  (A+B) • (A-B)

Proof :  (A+B) • (A-B) =
         A² - AB + BA - B² =
         A² - AB + AB - B² =
         A² - B²

Note :  AB = BA is the commutative property of multiplication.

Note :  - AB + AB equals zero and is therefore eliminated from the expression.

Check : 1 is the square of 1
Check :  x²  is the square of  x¹ 

Factorization is :       (x + 1)  •  (x - 1) 

Final result :

  -x2 • (x + 1) • (x - 1)