How do you complete the square to solve 2x^2 + 6x =5?

1 Answer
May 24, 2015

2x^2+6x = 5

Extract the common constant factor on the left side
2(x^2+3x) = 5

Complete the square
2(x^2+3x+(3/2)^2) = 5 + 9/2

Re-write as a square equal to a constant
(x+3/2)^2 = 19/4

Take the square root of both sides
x+3/2 = +-sqrt(19)/2

Isolate x for the final solution
x = (-3+-sqrt(19))/2