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33 votes
33 votes
Complete the square in order to solve the following quadratic equation:

x^2 + 6x = −2

User Thi Tran
by
2.3k points

1 Answer

20 votes
20 votes
To complete square one is basically doing
a
2
+
2
a
b
+
b
2
=
(
a
+
b
)
2

or
a
2

2
a
b
+
b
2
=
(
a

b
)
2
We can see that
x
2
=
a
2
and
2
a
b
=
6
x
So all we need to condense this into
(
a
+
b
)
2
is a
b
2
term
We know that
2
b
=
6
as
x
=
a

so
b
=
3

and
b
2
=
9
So if we put the
b
2
term in we get
x
2
+
6
x
+
9

9
=
(
x
+
3
)
2

9
We include the
±
9
because we have to net add nothing to the equation so
9

9
=
0
so we really haven't added anything
User Madness
by
2.7k points