Question

Given the following perfect square trinomial, fill in the missing term.

x2 − 16x + ____

Answer 1

im guessing 36?

Answer 2

No, that's not what it is. You divinde the constant of your middle term by two and then square that.

Answer 3

ugh! i hate this. i suck at this.

Answer 4

Don't just say that, just requires some practice.

Think about it like that

(x-b)(x-b) that is what you want, and you know already (from the problem) that there should be an x^2-16x+____the only way you can obtain a 16 in the middle term is if b is an 8, because it's two times that, two times 8 = 16.

But you can do all those problems very mechanically, just divide the constant of the middle term by two (with or without the minus doesn't matter) and then square that new number to get the remaining constant. Will always result in a perfect square.

Answer 5

ohh okay so...the answer is 64?

Answer 6

there you go (-;

Answer 7

THANKS!

Answer 8

very welcome