<PRE><B>Question 552067</B>
&lt;br&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Tahoma&quot;&gt;When you are making perfect squares,&lt;br&gt;

the easy way is just to take HALF of the value of the middle term,&lt;br&gt;

and then square it.&lt;br&gt;

Half of -12 is -6.&lt;br&gt;

-6 squared is 36.&lt;br&gt;

The expression should then be:&lt;br&gt;

{{{u^2-12u+36}}}&lt;br&gt;

And if we continue, then we can see that this can be factored as:&lt;br&gt;

{{{(u-6)(u-6)}}}&lt;br&gt;

or even more simply written as {{{(u-6)^2}}}&lt;br&gt;

which is WHY we do this.  :)&lt;br&gt;

Of course, this only works when the coefficient for the {{{x^2}}} term is 1, so be careful when trying this with trickier expressions.&lt;br&gt;

There&#39;s a LOT more to it, but this is the basic info you need to answer the question.&lt;br&gt;

I hope this helps!  :)&lt;br&gt;

Email Scott: neatmath@yahoo.com for help with specific problems,&lt;br&gt;

or to inquire about mathematics tutoring via email or other methods.&lt;br&gt;

Paypal is always accepted for single problems or for more intensive tutoring!&lt;br&gt;

Single problems would range from 50 cents to 5 dollars each, depending on the complexity.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;</PRE>