Question

Find the solutions to the equation by completing the square x^2-6x=7

Answer 1

The answers are x=7 and x=-1

Look at my photo for the work. I’m not sure if that’s exactly “completing the square”, (sorry I did my best) but the method I did in this works better for me.

What I find helps is when you multiply the coefficient of the first term (in this case 1 in the 1x^2) by the last term (-7). Then, find factors of -7 that add to the middle term (-6). The factors I found were 1 and -7. Then substitute them into the equation so it’s x^2 + 1x-7x -7=0. The value of the equation stays the same, except now you are able to group.