Question

How do you factor the trinomial `p^2 - 2p + 1`?

Answer 1

`p^2-2p+1=(p-1)^2`

Explanation:

The square of a binomial can be written as
`(a +- b)^2 = a^2 +-2ab + b^2`
(Try expanding the left side to verify this)

Then, in this case, we have

`p^2-2p+1 = p^2-2*p*1+1^2 = (p-1)^2`