What is the common factor in this case?

Question

I have a sum as given below:

$ -51y^7 - 34x^7 \over 17 $

What is the factored from of this question.

Note : I know the factor of 51 and 34 is 17 but is the factor of -51 and -34 17 or -17????

Answer 1

HINT: you can factorize the $-51$ & $-34$ each in two following ways $$-51=(-3)\times (\color{blue}{17})=(3)\times (\color{red}{-17})$$ $$-34=(-2)\times (\color{blue}{17})=(2)\times (\color{red}{-17})$$