Advanced Completing the Square

Students learn to solve advanced quadratic equations by completing the square. Note that the quadratic equations in this lesson have a coefficient on the squared term, so the first step is to get rid of the coefficient on the squared term by dividing both sides of the equation by this coefficient. For example, to solve the equation 2y^2 + 3y – 4 = 0 by completing the square, the first step is to divide both sides of the equation by 2 to get y^2 + 3/2 y – 2 = 0. From here, the steps for completing the square are the same as the previous lesson, but in some cases, such as the problem shown, the student will have to work with fractions.