Completing the square
Method for solving quadratic equations / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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In elementary algebra, completing the square is a technique for converting a quadratic polynomial of the form
to the form
for some values of h and k.
In other words, completing the square places a perfect square trinomial inside of a quadratic expression.
Completing the square is used in
- solving quadratic equations,
- deriving the quadratic formula,
- graphing quadratic functions,
- evaluating integrals in calculus, such as Gaussian integrals with a linear term in the exponent,[1]
- finding Laplace transforms.[2][3]
In mathematics, completing the square is often applied in any computation involving quadratic polynomials.