SOLUTION: How to solve this quadratic equation by completing the square x^2 + 6X - 7 = 0

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Question 7474: How to solve this quadratic equation by completing the square

x^2 + 6X - 7 = 0

Answer by longjonsilver(2297)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
ok, completing the square...

. First ignore the 7. Just think about the . What i want to do is think of the correct number (not the 7) that needs to be there so that I can factorise the quadratic as where k is a "nice" number, usually an integer, sometimes a simple fraction, rarely a horrible number.

think about . This expands to be , so we look at the coefficient before the x-term, our +6, and we note that this is like the "2k", so k must be 3. The number we therefore require is +9, so what we need is:

.

That is it done, really. All we have to do now is get this to look like the original, , as follows:

...note the +9-9 cancel each other out, leaving the -7



Hope this is clear?

And now to answer the question...


or

so x+3 = 4 OR x+3 = -4
so x=1 OR x=-7

jon.

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