Example:

This suggests two solutions,

and

.
However, upon plugging these solutions back into the equation, you get

which checks out, but

does not because

is defined only for

(assuming you're looking for real solutions only). So, we call

an extraneous solution, and the complete solution set (over the real numbers) is

.
Is there an equation with the question? This doesn't mean anything^
Let's set it up like this:

Multiply both sides by



We are then going to use the distributive property. Since we also know that the opposite of an number that is squared is the square root, we can also apply that. We would be left with something like this:

The variable

can be both positive or negative.
We have found successfully our answer.
Let me know if you have any questions regarding this problem!
Thanks!
-TetraFish<span />