another alternative to a) is considering a polynomial, p(x) with roots such that
p(x)=x^3-(a+b+c)x^2+(ab+ac+bc)x-abc=0
Then because a, b and c are roots, they should satisfy p(x).
a^3-a^2(a+b+c)+a(ab+ac+bc)-abc=0
b^3-b^2(a+b+c)+b(ab+ac+bc)-abc=0
c^3-c^2(a+b+c)+c(ab+ac+bc)-abc=0
Then adding these three, would enable you to factorise it quite easily
There is also another approach for factorising this using determinants but because that confuses four unit students as it is not in the course, I will not mention it. Those interested in the determinant approach can email me.
Next Question,
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let a, b and c be real numbers such that
cos a+cos b+cos c=sin a+sin b+sin c=0
Prove that
cos 2a+cos 2b+cos 2c=sin 2a+sin 2b+sin 2c=0
(hint: You may use complex numbers to prove the result)