Completing the Square

Solving Equations using the

Square Root
Say we have a quadratic equation with a squared term equal to a number:
x2  9
Traditionally we would set this equal to zero and factor to solve:
x2  9  0
( x  3)( x  3)  0
x  3,3
But now that we are comfortable with radicals, lets solve this by taking the
square root of both sides since that’s the opposite operation of something squared.
x2  9
x3

But if we look at the factored solution we had both 3 and -3, and if we sub those two
numbers in the original equation they both work. So whenever we are taking the
square root of a number in an equation we have to write both the positive and
negative solutions.
So lets look at that again: x 2  12

We’ll solve this again by taking the square root of both sides: x 2  12

On the left side we will just be left with the x, and we’ll try and simplify the
right side: x  2 3

And since we solved this by taking the square root, we’ll have to make sure to
have both the positive and negative answers, we can write it as: x  2 3

Let’s do one a little more advanced: ( x  3) 2  5

We can still take the square root of both sides: ( x  3) 2  5
On the left side we will just be left with the x + 3, on the right side we cannot
simplify but we will put in the positive and negative solution.

x3  5

And now we will just solve for x: x  3  5

Let’s try one more: ( x  6)  20
2

We’ll take the square root of both sides: ( x  6) 2  20

Which will just leave us with an x – 6 on the left and we can simplify the right:

x  6  2 5

And now we can solve for x: x  62 5

So for the past two problems we have discovered that if we have a perfect
square, a binomial in parentheses squared, equal to a number then we can solve
the problem for x.

We can use this idea to solve quadratic equations that are not factorable. So
something that looks like: x 2  6 x  1  0

This quadratic is not factorable, but if we could rewrite the left side so it’s a perfect
square then we could solve the problem the way we solved the previous two.
 So what makes a perfect square? Basically anything that you can write as something squared. So
with binomial, a perfect square would look like: ( x  d ) 2 where d is any number.

So if we could rewrite a quadratic to look like the right side of that equation, then it would factor
into the perfect square on the left side!

Let’s look at our problem from the previous slide: x  6 x  1  0

2

First thing I’m going to do is add the one to the other side: x2  6x  1
Now I’m going to try to write the left side as a perfect square, I left a space there so we can factor it,
usually when we factor into two binomials (x + d)(x + d) we have started with a trinomial, so that
space represents that third term.

So to get that left side to factor into a perfect square, we are just going to factor like normal, see
what numbers multiply to give us the “space” and add to give us +6. Since we want them to be the
same numbers then it’s a bit easier, as only one set of same numbers add to +6, 3 and 3. Therefore
we want that left side to factor to: ( x  3)( x  3)

Currently it does not, since (3)(3) do not equal “space” they equal 9. So we are going to replace
that space by adding 9 to both sides.
x2  6x  9  1  9
( x  3) 2  10
We can now solve that problem the same way we’ve been solving problems previously:

( x  3) 2  10
x  3   10
x  3  10

So this process is called solving quadratic equations by completing the square.

So let’s look another one: x  8 x  3  0
2

We’ll first move the 3 to the other side: x  8 x 3

2

Then we’ll try to find a same number that multiplies to “space” and adds to -8, the only
number that adds to itself to give you -8 is -4 so we want the left side to factor to:
( x  4)( x  4)

Currently the left side does not factor to that since (-4)(-4) does not give you “space”
so instead of “space” we should be adding a 16 there, and so will have to add it to both
sides.
x 2  8 x  16  3  16
( x  4) 2  19

Now we can solve the problem by taking the square root and solving for x:

( x  4) 2  19
x  4   19
x  4  19
We’ll do another one: x 2  3x  2  0

First add the 2 to both sides: x 2

 3x 2

And we’ll try to find a number that adds to itself to give you 3. This one is a little trickier
but from the past two we should notice that every time we are looking for something that
adds to itself to give you a number, it will always be half of that number.

For example: A number added to itself to give you 10, 5 and 5. A number added to itself to
give you 30, 15 and 15. So a shortcut could be to just take half of that number in front of x

Therefore, we would like this to factor to:  3  3

 x   x  
 2  2
9
Since the left side currently does not factor to that, we will have to add
4
to both sides to get: 2
 3 17
9 9 x  
x 2  3x   2  2 4
4 4 Now we can take the square root of
2 3 17
 3  17 both sides and solve for x: x 
x   2 2
 2 4
3 17
x 
2 2
We’ll try another one: 2 x 2  8x  4  0
We’ll again move the 4 to the other side: 2 x 2  8x  4
We notice right away that we cannot factor this to a perfect square of (x+d)(x+d) since
the 2 in front of the x^2 means that one of my factors would have a 2 in front of the x.

So just divide both sides of the equation by that 2.

x2  4x  2
Now we can find a number that adds to itself to give you 4, which is the same as just taking
half of 4.: ( x  2)( x  2)

The left side currently does not factor to this, so add (2)(2) or 4 to both sides.
x2  4x  4  2  4
( x  2) 2  6

And now we can solve the equation by taking the square ( x  2) 2  6

root of both sides and solving for x x2 6
x  2  6
We’ll try a last one: 5 x  10 x  20  0
2

Add the 20 to both sides: 5 x 2  10 x  20

Since there’s a number in front of the x^2, we’ll divide both sides by 5:
x2  2x 4
We’ll take half of the -2 and try to factor the left side to ( x  1)( x  1)

To do this we’ll have to add a (-1)(-1) or a 1 to both sides

x2  2x 1  4 1
( x  1) 2  5

( x  1) 2  5
And now we can solve the equation by taking the
square root of both sides and solving for x: x 1   5
x  1 5
 Solving for the Quadratic Formula
Please do not fret much over the next two slides, we are just going to derive the
quadratic formula, but it is not that important how we do this.

But lets say we start with a standard quadratic equation: ax 2  bx  c  0

We’ll start the same way as usual, move the constant, c, to the other side:
ax 2  bx  c
b c
x2  x 
And we’ll divide both sides by a: a a
 b  b 
We’ll take half of b/a and try to factor the left side to:  x   x  
 2a  2a 

So we’ll have to add (b/2a)(b/2a) or b^2/4a^2 to both sides.

b b2  c b2
x  x 2 
2

a 4a a 4a 2
 4ac  b 2
2
 b 
x  
 2a  4a 2
So we can solve by taking the square root of both sides and solving for x

b 2  4ac
2
 b 
x   
 2a  4a 2
b b 2  4ac
x 
2a 2a
 b  b 2  4ac
x
2a

And we will see that we have derived the quadratic formula! We can also use
that formula to solve quadratic equations which are not factorable.