Question

Please help with this problem my son is having problems showing his work an understanding how. Review Josh’s steps for solving the equation : a) State what method he was using to solve the equation.b) Explain where in his work he had a mistake. c) Fix his mistake and show what the correct answer should be.

Answer 1

a) he used factoring

b) The mistake was in the 5th and 8th step

(x-3)^2 = 16

x-3 = 16

He only applied square root to the left side of the equation.

c)

To eliminate the exponent we have to apply square root to both sides of the equation:

√[(x-3)^2] = √16

x-3 = 4

x = 4 + 3

x= 7

x-3= -4

x = -4 + 3

x = -1