# Difference between revisions of "Completing the Square"

## The Basics

Completing the Square is a method commonly used to solve quadratic equations. Often times, a quadratic equation can be factored and solved easily. However, there are plenty of times when an equation is not factorable. By completing the square, a quadratic equation originally in standard form is rewritten into vertex form.

The equation
$ax^2+bx+c=0$
is converted into
$a(x-h)^2+k=0$
through the process of completing the square.

## Perfect Square Trinomial

A perfect square trinomial is a big fancy word for a simple concept. It is a quadratic equation that factors perfectly into two identical binomials.
In general,
$(x-a)(x-a)=x^2-2ax+a^2$
The quadratic on the right is a perfect square trinomial. It is the square of a binomial.

#### Example

Take the example of $x^2+6x+9$. Using basic algebra, it can be factored into $(x+3)(x+3)$ or $(x+3)^2$
By completing the square, one of the components of the equation has to be a factored perfect square trinomial.

#### Relationship between terms

Note the relationship between the numbers in the factored form and the expanded form. The numbers available are 3, 6, and 9. The middle term of the quadratic is twice the constant of the binomial. The last term of the quadratic is the constant squared. In other words,
$2\times3=6 and 3\times3=9$

## Completing the Square

Let the quadratic equation be $ax^2+bx+c=0$

• Step 1: Move the constant over to the other side of the equality

$ax^2+bx=-c$

• Step 2: Factor out the coefficient of the squared term

$a(x^2+\frac{b}{a})=-c$