Fill in the blank to make the expression a perfect square.

Question

Fill in the blank to make the expression a perfect square. W² - 10w +

Answer 1

Naomie, here is an explanation of how you could get Mark and David’s answer next time.

You want a perfect square involving w and some other constant, call it c.

So it looks like (w + c)(w + c), because it’s a perfect square. Now multiply that out.

w² + 2wc + c²

So your missing term is c², but you need to discover the value of c.

Since you are given

w² - 10w

you need to realize that

2wc = -10w

Solve this for c

c = -5

now your answer is c², which is (-5)² or 25.

Answer 2

w² - 10w + (10/2)²

Answer 3

ax² + bx + c

In a perfect square, c is (b/2)².

w² - 10w + 25