How do you factor $5y^2- 5y + 5/4$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2015-05-24T09:33:11

$5y^2-5y+5/4 = 5/4(4y^2-4y+1) = 5/4(2y-1)(2y-1)$

Separating out the scalar factor $5/4$ gave a quadratic with integer coefficients in lowest terms that was easier to work with.

$(4y^2-4y+1)$ was easily recognisable as $(2y-1)^2$ much as $441$ is recognisable as $21^2$ and $144$ as $12^2$ .

How do you factor 5y^2- 5y + 5/45y^2- 5y + 5/4?