McGraw Hill Integrated II, 2012
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McGraw Hill Integrated II, 2012 View details
Study Guide and Review
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Exercise 74 Page 84

To factor a perfect square trinomial, the first and last terms have to be perfect squares.

(x+6)^2

Practice makes perfect
We want to factor a perfect square trinomial. x^2+12x+36

How do we know that the expression is a perfect square trinomial? Well, let's ask a few questions.

Is the first term a perfect square? x^2= x^2 âś“
Is the last term a perfect square? 36= 6^2 âś“
Is the middle term twice the product of 6 and x? 12x=2* 6* x âś“
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 there is an addition sign in the middle. x^2+12x+36 ⇔ ( x+ 6)^2

Checking Our Answer

Check your answer âś“
Let's un-factor our answer and compare it with the given expression.
(x+6)^2
x^2+12x+36
After expanding and simplifying, the result is the same as the given expression. Therefore, we can be sure our solution is correct!