How do you solve the quadratic equation (3x - 9)^2 = 12(3x9)2=12 by the square root property?

1 Answer
Aug 31, 2015

x = 3 +- (2sqrt(3))/3x=3±233

Explanation:

The square root property tells you that if x^2x2 is equal to a positive number nn, then you have

color(blue)(x = +- sqrt(n))x=±n

You can use 33 as a common factor to rewrite the expression that's being squared like this

[3(x-3)]^2 = 3^2 * (x-3)^2 = 9 * (x-3)^2[3(x3)]2=32(x3)2=9(x3)2

The equation can thus be written as

(color(red)(cancel(color(black)(9))) * (x-3)^2)/color(red)(cancel(color(black)(9))) = 12/9

(x-3)^2 = 4/3

The square root property tells you that

x - 3 = +- sqrt(4/3)

x - 3 = +- 2/sqrt(3) = +- (2sqrt(3))/3

This means that you get

x = 3 +- (2sqrt(3))/3

The two solutions to the equation will be

x_1 = 3 + (2sqrt(3))/3" " and " "x_2 = 3 - (2sqrt(3))/3