SOLUTION: How do you determine if a polynomial is the difference of two squares?

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Question 575092: How do you determine if a polynomial is the difference of two squares?

Answer by richard1234(7193) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
It all depends, but it takes practice. For example,



is obviously a difference of two squares. So is

.

However, something like

might tempt one to expand the whole thing, when it is indeed a difference of squares, and can be expressed as

.