Question

express x^2 + 6x + 4 in the form (x+a)^2 -b
Help please!

Answer 1

x^2 + 2xy + y^2 = (x+y)^2
and you should know that x^2 + 6x + 9 = (x+3)^2
so how would you get x^2 + 6x + 4 like that?
you can add by a value that equals zero so
x^2 + 6x + 4 + 5 - 5 then you would simplify it to what you need it to be
x^2 + 6x + 9 - 5 which then can be factored to
(x+3)^2 - 5

feel free to ask if you don't understand how that worked :)

Answer 2

thank you, I'm assuming that x^2 + 2xy + y^2 = (x+y)^2 is the specific formula for this type of question?

Answer 3

it is what you should think of while solving this type of question :)

Answer 4

okay thank you! :)