Answer:
It is a perfect square expression.
It factors to (x+2)^2
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Explanation:
The general format for a perfect square is
(a+b)^2 = a^2 + 2ab + b^2
Which can be seen through the use of the FOIL rule.
Compare x^2+4x+4 with a^2+2ab+b^2, and we have these three equivalences:
- x^2 = a^2 .... first terms
- 4x = 2ab .... middle terms
- 4 = b^2 .... last terms
Since x^2 = a^2, we can apply the square root to both sides to get a = x. Similarly, 4 = b^2 leads to b = 2. We could get b = -2, but that would mean 2ab = 2x*(-2) = -4x instead of 4x. So we'll stick with b = 2 instead.
Because a = x and b = 2, we then can say:
(a+b)^2 = a^2 + 2ab + b^2
(x+2)^2 = x^2 + 2*x*2 + 2^2
(x+2)^2 = x^2 + 4x + 4
Showing that x^2+4x+4 factors to (x+2)^2.
