Question

Find the term that must be added to the equation x^2-8=9 to make it into a perfect square

Answer 1

For this question, we recall that a perfect square is of the form:

`(a+b)^(2)`

Therefore, we will add and subtract constants in order to arrive at the perfect square form:

`\begin{gathered} 9=x^(2)-8x \\ 9=x^(2)-8x+16-16 \\ 9+16=x^(2)-8x+16 \\ 25=(x-4)^(2) \end{gathered}`