SOLUTION: I have a test tomorrow and am having a lot of trouble with quadratic equations. i understand some things, but others do not make sense at all. below are 3 problems that i do not un

Question 115722: I have a test tomorrow and am having a lot of trouble with quadratic equations. i understand some things, but others do not make sense at all. below are 3 problems that i do not understand how to solve. if you could solve the problem and show the steps, that would really help me a lot.
1. 2x^2 - 14x - 10 = 0 (must be solved by factoring or by completing the square, cannot use the quadratic formula)

Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

Start with the given equation

Add 10 to both sides
Factor out the leading coefficient 2. This step is important since we want the coefficient to be equal to 1.

Take half of the x coefficient -7 to
Now square to get

Add this result (12.25) to the expression inside the parenthesis. Now the expression is a perfect square trinomial. Now add the result (remember we factored out a 2) to the right side.

Factor into

Multiply and 2 to get

Combine like terms on the right side

Divide both sides by 2

Take the square root of both sides

Simplify

Add to both sides to isolate x.

Combine the fractions

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