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% Problem 3
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% a)

% We first declare x and y to be symbolic with the syms command, and then 
% apply factor.

syms x y
factor(x^3 - y^3)
 
ans =
 
(x-y)*(x^2+x*y+y^2)
 

% This is easily checked by multiplying out the factored form.

% b) 

% We can apply factor directly to the given integer.

factor(123456789)

ans =

           3           3        3607        3803


% We see that the prime factorization of 123456789 is 3^2*3607*3803.

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