Completing the Square to Solve Quadratic Equations

Today, we're covering how to complete the square to solve quadratic equations! When completing the square, we're essentially creating a perfect square trinomial, which can then easily be factored. There are a few things to pay attention to, like whether or not we're in standard form first, if there's a coefficient other than 1 in front of x squared, and if the current equation can already be factored.

You also need to watch out for negatives in the square root, which would create imaginary roots. We cover what to do in that case (as there is still an answer we can solve for)!

Solving quadratic equations by completing the square is often a quicker method than using the lengthy quadratic formula.

Once you finish this video and are able to complete the square, check out this video on graphing quadratics in vertex form:    • Graphing Quadratics In Vertex Form - ...