afreemanny said:
q^2 - 16q + 14
GCF = 8
q^2 = (q)^2 = perfect square
64 = (8)^2 = perfect square
16q = 2(q)(8) middle term is twice the product of q and 8
a=q , b= 8
(q-8)^2
You didn't say what it was you were supposed to do. Completing the square? You're close.
GCF? I don't know what that has to do with completing the square.
16q = 2(q)(8) middle term is twice the product of q and 8
You have what you need in this statement. 8 is the magic number for this problem.
This won't do.
(q-8)^2 = q^2 - 16q + 64 <== That is NOT where you started.
All is not lost. You are close, again.
You have from the beginning q^2 - 16q + 14, but you can't make that 14 into a 64 just because you want to. You have to account for what you do. Getting from 14 to 64 requires 50.
q^2 - 16q + 14 + 50 - 50 <== This IS still what you started with. We added 50 that we needed, but subtracted it so we wouldn't change anything.
q^2 - 16q + 14 + 50 - 50 = q^2 - 16q + 64 - 50 = (q-8)^2 - 50
or, we may need this version
(q-8)^2 - 50 = (q-8)^2 - 2*(5^2)
Well, since you didn't provide an actual problem statement, you'll have to tell me if I guessed very well.
