Final Exam Study Guide
Subject:
Algebra [1]
Tags:
math [7]
MA 318 Final Exam Study Guide Rachael Calvary Completing the Square (p.91) Begin with an equation in the form , and try to determine what must be added to this expression to make it the square of a binomial. What we must add is . That is, we add the square of half the coefficient of b. To see that this is correct, we simply check that , and is therefore a perfect square. Example: Thus, if one asks what must be added to to make it a perfect square, the answer is or . Now we can verify that is the square of . Example 3.16: Using the method of completing the square, solve the equation . We subtract 1 from each side of the equation to get . We complete the square on the left side by adding 9.