Question

fill in the blanks. 1. 4 x square 2-12x = ?​

Answer 1

Answer:

Step-by-step explanation:

(x – 2)2 – 12 = 0

The expression on the left-hand side of this equation can be multiplied out and simplified to be:

x2 – 4x – 8

But we still would not have been able to solve the equation, even with the quadratic formatted this way, because it doesn't factor and it isn't ready for square-rooting.

 

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Completing the Square on MathHelp.com

Completing the Square

The only reason we could solve it on the previous page was because they'd already put all the x stuff inside a square, so we could move the strictly-numerical portion of the equation to the other side of the "equals" sign and then square-root both sides. They won't always format things as nicely as this. So how do we go from a regular quadratic like the above to an equation that is ready to be square-rooted?

We will have to "complete the square".