mercuryv8 Posted January 22, 2007 Posted January 22, 2007 The title for this post is inappropriate sorry, I hit post when I should have hit preview. I'm trying to re-arrange the first equation in the series below to the format [math] y=a(x-p)^2+q [/math] Using the completing the square method, now I have a process down where I get the right answers. But I don't understand what happens to the "8x" them in the last step...I just leave it out and take the sqroot of the "16" and the "x^2" to get the (x-4) in brackets? I don't fully understand why one-half of the coefficien of the x-term is added and subtracted either? [math] F(x) = 3x^2-24x+40 [/math] [math] F(x) = 3(x^2-8x)+40 [/math] [math] F(x) = 3(x^2-8x+16-16)+40 [/math] [math] F(x) = 3(x^2-8x+16)-48+40 [/math] [math] F(x) = 3(x^2-8x+16)-8 [/math] [math] F(x) = 3(x-4)^2-8 [/math] any help in explaining this to me is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance Nic
timo Posted January 22, 2007 Posted January 22, 2007 I don't understand what happens to the "8x" them in the last step...I just leave it out and take the sqroot of the "16" and the "x^2" to get the (x-4) in brackets? You don´t "just leave it out". It´s part of the (x-4)²: (x-4)² = (x-4)(x-4) = x² -4x -4x + 16 = x² -8x +16 If you read that equation from the right to the left (equations can always be read both ways round), then that´s exactly what you´ve done/used in the last step. I don't fully understand why one-half of the coefficien of the x-term is added and subtracted either? I don´t fully understand the question. You´re asking why 16 (the square of one-half of the coefficient of the x-term) is added and substracted?
mercuryv8 Posted January 22, 2007 Author Posted January 22, 2007 I don´t fully understand the question. You´re asking why 16 (the square of one-half of the coefficient of the x-term) is added and substracted? Yeah? And thanks for your help with the factoring of the equation...It makes more sense now. Nic
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