Kevin C. answered 10/01/14
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Successful Math Tutor -- Recently retired high school math teacher
1. 3x2+6x=2x2+40
Subtract 2x2 from each side: x2 + 6x = 40
To have a perfect square, the last term needs to be a perfect square, and to find it, take half of the middle coefficient (in this case,6) and square it, adding the result to both sides.
This gives: x2 + 6x + 9 = 40 + 9, or x2 + 6x + 9 = 49.
This makes the left half a perfect square: (x + 3)2 = 49
Taking the square root of each side: |x + 3| = 7
Removing the absolute value: x + 3 = ±7, so x + 3 = 7, and x + 3 = -7.
Therefore x = 4, and x = -10.
2. x2 - 2x + 1 = 3 + 1 ==> (x - 1)2 = 4 ==> |x - 1| = 2 ==> x - 1 = ±2
3. x2 + 10x = 3; x2 + 10x + 25 = 3 + 25; (x + 5)2 = 28; x + 5 = ±√28; x = -5 ±2√7
I Hope this helps.