Factor #x^2 +12x +36?#
3 Answers
See a solution process below:
Explanation:
Because the
Because the constant is a positive and the coefficient for the
Now we need to determine the factors which multiply to 36 and also add to 12:
Explanation:
#" consider the "color(blue)"perfect square "(x+-a)^2#
#(x+-a)^2=x^2+-2ax+a^2#
#"compare to "x^2+12x+36#
#"with "a^2=36rArra=6#
#"and "2ax=2xx6x=12x#
#rArrx^2+12x+36=(x+6)^2#
Explanation:
What two numbers sum up to the middle term (
After some trial and error, we arrive at
Another way we could have approached this is that we see that the leading term and the last term are both perfect squares.
With this in mind, we could rewrite the expression as
Now, it becomes a little more clearer that we can factor this as
Hope this helps!