Algebra Examples

m^{2} - 4 m + 4

$m^{2} - 4 m + 4$

Step 1

Rewrite

4

$4$ as

2^{2}

$2^{2}$ .

m^{2} - 4 m + 2^{2}

$m^{2} - 4 m + 2^{2}$

Step 2

Check that the middle term is two times the product of the numbers being squared in the first term and third term.

4 m = 2 \cdot m \cdot 2

$4 m = 2 \cdot m \cdot 2$

Step 3

Rewrite the polynomial.

m^{2} - 2 \cdot m \cdot 2 + 2^{2}

$m^{2} - 2 \cdot m \cdot 2 + 2^{2}$

Step 4

Factor using the perfect square trinomial rule

a^{2} - 2 a b + b^{2} = {(a - b)}^{2}

$a^{2} - 2 a b + b^{2} = {(a - b)}^{2}$ , where

a = m

$a = m$ and

b = 2

$b = 2$ .

{(m - 2)}^{2}

${(m - 2)}^{2}$

m^{2} - 4 m + 4

$m^{2} - 4 m + 4$

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