Factor the trinomial \(x^2 - 3x - 4\).

Step 1 ：First we look for two numbers that multiply to \(-4\) (the constant term) and add to \(-3\) (the coefficient of the \(x\) term).

Step 2 ：We find that the numbers \(-4\) and \(1\) satisfy these conditions because \(-4 * 1 = -4\) and \(-4 + 1 = -3\).

Step 3 ：So we can write the trinomial as \((x - 4)(x + 1)\).