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Factoring Difference of Two Perfect Squares

The document discusses factoring the difference of two perfect squares. It begins by defining the difference of two squares as a binomial with each term squared and subtracted. Six examples are provided to demonstrate how to factor various binomial expressions by recognizing them as differences of two squares and applying the formula. The key steps are to rewrite terms as perfect squares, identify the difference of two squares pattern, then factor using the formula with alternating positive and negative signs between two binomials. More complex examples involve factoring the results further when new differences of two squares emerge.

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Leigh Chavez
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440 views11 pages

Factoring Difference of Two Perfect Squares

The document discusses factoring the difference of two perfect squares. It begins by defining the difference of two squares as a binomial with each term squared and subtracted. Six examples are provided to demonstrate how to factor various binomial expressions by recognizing them as differences of two squares and applying the formula. The key steps are to rewrite terms as perfect squares, identify the difference of two squares pattern, then factor using the formula with alternating positive and negative signs between two binomials. More complex examples involve factoring the results further when new differences of two squares emerge.

Uploaded by

Leigh Chavez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Factoring Difference of Two Perfect

Squares
At some point in your study of algebra, you’ll be asked to factor
expressions by recognizing some special patterns.
The difference of two squares is one of the most common.
The good news is, this form is very easy to identify.

Whenever you have a binomial with each term being squared


(having an exponent of 22), and they have subtraction as the
middle sign, you are guaranteed to have the case of difference
of two squares.

The diagram below should provide an intuitive understanding of


this concept.
After verifying that you have a difference of two squares, you
can now factor it out as a product of two binomials
with alternating signs in the middle, positive and negative.

Formula for Difference of Two Squares

These are other ways to write the formula of the difference of


two squares using variables. Learn to recognize them in various
appearances so that you know exactly how to handle them.

Examples of How to Factor Difference of Two Perfect Squares

Let’s go over some examples!


Example 1: Factor the binomial below using the difference of
two squares method.

The first term of the binomial is definitely a perfect square


because the variable xx is being raised to the second power.
However, the second term of the binomial is not written as a
square. So we need to rewrite it in such a way that 99 is
expressed as some number with a power of 22. I hope you can
see that 9 = {\left( 3 \right)^2}9=(3)2. Clearly, we have a
difference of two squares because the sign between the two
squared terms is subtraction.

For this example, the solution is broken down in just a few steps
to highlight the procedure. Once you get comfortable with the
process, you can skip a lot of steps. In fact, you can go straight
from the difference of two squares to its factors.
Example 2: Factor the binomial below.

At first, it appears that this is not a difference of two squares.


What we need is to try rewriting it in the form that is easily
recognizable.

For the first term of the binomial, what term when multiplied by
itself gives 4{x^2}4x2? That should be 2x2x since

For the second term, the number when multiplied by itself


gives 4949 is 77because
The solution to this problem looks like this,

Example 3: Factor the binomial below.

This problem is a little bit different because both terms of the


binomial contain variables. If we can show that they are perfect
squares then we should be alright!

 The first term is a perfect square since

 More so, the second is also a perfect square because


Applying the formula for the difference of two squares we get,

Example 4: Factor the binomial below.

Here’s an interesting problem. Maybe you already recognize


that the pure numbers, 1616 and 8181, are perfect squares.
That’s good. The variable yythough doesn’t have an exponent
of 22, but instead has an exponent of 44. Does this qualify to
be a square?

Don’t be quick to conclude that it is not. Can you think of a term


which when multiplied by itself gives {y^4}y4? You can do a
trial and error on this. But if you apply your previous knowledge
of the Product Rule of Exponents, it makes sense that
In fact, whenever the exponent of a variable is an even number,
that expression can be expressed as a perfect square. Why?
Because all even numbers are factorable by the number 22.

Now, we can truly rewrite this binomial as the difference of two


squares with distinct terms that are being raised to the second
power; where 16{y^4} = {\left( {4{y^2}}
\right)^2}16y4=(4y2)2 and 81 = {\left( 9 \right)^2}81=(9)2
Putting this together, we get

Now you can break this up into two binomial factors with
alternating signs,

Are we done already? Well, examine carefully the binomials you


factored out. The second parenthesis is possibly a case of
difference of two squares as well since 4{y^2} = \left( {2y}
\right)\left( {2y} \right)4y2=(2y)(2y) and clearly, 9 =
\left( 3 \right)\left( 3 \right)9=(3)(3).
This means you have to apply the formula for the difference of
two squares one more time.

Here’s the complete solution to this problem.

Example 5: Factor the binomial below.

Notice that the binomial has only one kind of variable which is
“xx“. The basic strategy when you see something similar to this
is to factor out the greatest common factor (GCF) among the
variables.
Between {x^4}x4 and {x^{12}}x12, the GCF is {x^4}x4. If
you factor this out, you get

Now we can deal with the binomial inside the parenthesis. It is


actually a difference of two squares because we can express
each term of the binomial as an expression with a power of 22.

Then we apply the formula for the difference of two squares,

Are we done? Nope! The second parenthesis is still a case of


difference of two squares. We have no choice but to factor it out
one more time.

Scan through the binomials again to see if there is still a case of


difference of two squares. The last binomial definitely fits the
criteria.
Let’s work this out one last time and we’re done!

Example 6: Factor the binomial below.

I want to throw in this type of problem because you may


encounter something similar to this in your studies. First,
recognize that it is a binomial where the first term is {\left( {x -
3} \right)^2}(x−3)2 and the second term is 44. Since both are
squared terms and being separated by subtraction, this is truly
a case of difference of two squares.

You may keep it in that form as your final answer. But the best
answer is to combine like terms by adding or subtracting the
constants. This also simplifies the answer by getting rid of the
inner parenthesis.

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