how do you determine if a polynomial is the difference of two squares?

Question

anonymous · Answer

(x-2)(x+2)

anonymous · Answer

so its like where your subtracting one from the other?

saifoo.khan · Answer

(x^2-4)^2 = (x-2)(x+2)

(x^2 - 16) = (x-4)(x+4)

anonymous · Answer

The difference of two squares is then one squared thing subtracted from another squared thing.

anonymous · Answer

im not typing ive already typed lol this site is going crazy

saifoo.khan · Answer

lol.

anonymous · Answer

so am i on the right track with the answer?

saifoo.khan · Answer

kind of.

anonymous · Answer

A polynomial is the difference of two squares if it has exactly two positive terms and there is a minus sign between them. Typically the situations that arise in beginning and intermediate algebra have two terms that are each perfect squares so that the conjugate pair factorization is nice and tidy, thus: 

 

However any positive number is the square of something, even if it isn't rational.