Question

if the middle term of a trinomial is negative, then both terms in the factored binomial will have ______ signs.

Explanation:

For a quadratic trinomial of the form $x^2 - bx + c$ (with positive constant term), it factors to $(x - m)(x - n)$ where $m+n=b$ and $m \times n=c$. The negative middle term results from the sum of two negative terms in the binomials, so both factored binomial terms have negative signs.

Answer:

negative