How to factor by grouping

When you are asked to factor by grouping you will be given a problem similar to the 

following:

8x^3 - 64x^2 + x - 8

So how do you go on about solving it?

Let's break it down step by step:


1) You split the equation in half and you take the first two terms (8x^3 - 64x^3) "group 

them" and find the greatest common factor between them which would be: 8x^2 (x-8)



2) Do the same for the other half of the equation (X-8) and the greatest common factor 

would be 1(x-8)

3) Now you have something that looks like this:

8x^2(x-8) + 1(x-8)



4) Finally all you have to do is combine the outside of both mini-equations to create another 

equation and times it by the inside. So your final answer should look something like this:

(8x^2 + 1) (x - 8)