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Completing Squares

Standard Form - Vertex Form 

 

y=ax^2 + bx + c is not a perfect square

y= a(x-h)^2 + k is a perfect square so we must complete the square

 

 

Steps: 

1. Bracket first two terms

2. factor out coefficeint 

3. Find the value of c by diving the b value by 2 and then squaring

4. Add and subtract c value from the bracket

5. Remove the negative c value from the bracket by mulitpliying by the original coeffecent taken out in step 2

6. Factor the bracket to a perfect square!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Standard Form

y=ax2+bx+c     

 

Standard Form gives us:

a= vertical stretch/compression 

positive opens up, negative opens downwards 

 

c= y intercept 

 

To graph standard form you need to factor 

 

There are multiple ways to factor 

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