I cannot understand how quadratic formula to solve for $x$ was derived.
On this website, it explains the steps
Following I understand
but I cannot understand how they got
$b/2a$
and why they are squaring it
$b^2/4a^2$
Really, I am baffled!
I cannot understand how quadratic formula to solve for $x$ was derived.
On this website, it explains the steps
Following I understand
but I cannot understand how they got
$b/2a$
and why they are squaring it
$b^2/4a^2$
Really, I am baffled!
$x^2+\frac{b}{a}x+K^2=(x+K)^2$
$x^2+\frac{b}{a}x+K^2=x^2+2xK+K^2$
$\frac{b}{a}x=2xK$
$k=\frac{b}{2a}$
Then we know that
$x^2+\frac{b}{a}x+(\frac{b}{2a})^2=(x+\frac{b}{2a})^2$
$x^2+\frac{b}{a}x+\frac{b^2}{4a^2}=(x+\frac{b}{2a})^2$
This process is called completing the square. Now we can factor a perfect square. Is this answer sufficient?
Hint:
This is the completing the square trick. Usefull in many other cases and simple to visualize.
The black square is $x^2$, the red rectangle is $bx$, so $x^2+bx$ can be transformed to a square adding the little blue square, that is $(b/2)^2$.