9. Perfect Squares
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To factor a perfect square trinomial, the first and last terms have to be perfect squares.
Perfect Square?: Yes.
Factored Form: (4x-7)^2
To determine if an expression is a perfect square trinomial, we need to ask ourselves three questions.
| Is the first term a perfect square? | 16x^2= (4x)^2 ✓ |
| Is the last term a perfect square? | 49= 7^2 ✓ |
| Is the middle term twice the product of 7 and 4x? | 56x=2* 7* 4x ✓ |
As we can see, the answer to the three questions above is yes! Therefore, we can write the trinomial as the square of a binomial. Note that there is a subtraction sign in the middle. 16x^2-56a+49 ⇔ ( 4x- 7)^2
After expanding, the result is the same as the given expression. Therefore, we can be sure our solution is correct!