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What value must be added to both sides of the equation x2 + 6x = 7 in order to complete the square?.

User Splaytreez
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2 votes

Answer:

9

Explanation:

You want the value that must be added to x² +6x = 7 to complete the square.

Perfect square trinomial

The square of a binomial looks like ...

(x +a)² = x² +2ax +a²

The constant term (a²) is the square of half the coefficient of the linear term:

((2a)/2)² = a²

Completing the square

The square is complete when the left side of the equation is a perfect square trinomial. We can get it to be that if we add (6/2)² = 9 to both sides of the equation.

x² +6x +9 = 7 +9 . . . . add 9 to complete the square

(x +3)² = 16 . . . . . . . the completed square

User Hang
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