Michael: Nov 7-14

Hey Michael! I hope your trip is awesome. This week, we are covering 3 things:

• Factoring Special Case: Difference of Squares

• Factoring Special Case: Perfect Square Trinomials

• Solving Equations using Factoring

FACTORING SPECIAL CASE: DIFFERENCE OF SQUARES

Here is a link to the Khan Academy article for difference of squares. Alternatively, here is a video about it:

After you look through some of these things, try some of these problems (this worksheet is in the papers I gave you and is titled "Factoring the Difference of Squares"). Complete enough problems that you feel confident that you are able to factor these types of equations.

FACTORING SPECIAL CASE: PERFECT SQUARE TRINOMIALS

Here is a link to the Khan Academy article for perfect square trinomials. Alternatively, here is a video about it:

Here are some practice problems for this topic. Complete as many as you need to feel confident that you get it!

SOLVING EQUATIONS USING FACTORING

We have been factoring expressions so far (an expression is a collection of terms that doesn't have an equal sign, such as x^2 + 2x +1). In this lesson, we are going to extend that thinking and solve equations using factoring. Equations, unlike expressions, have equal signs (such as x^2 + 2x + 1 = 0). Being able to solve quadratic equations using factoring is an important and useful skill for every math class you will take from now on. We can discuss that more when you return. For now, I want to give you some introduction to solving equations using factoring. Check out this Khan Academy article as a start.

Check out this video:

Notice that this example is almost identical to the factoring we've been doing (factoring by grouping), except that you can actually find the solutions (values of s) at the end by setting each factor equal to zero and solving.

Try a few of these problems as practice. Don't get too hung up on any particular problem if you have trouble factoring it. Your focus should be to take that one extra step of finding solutions (x = ____ and x = ____ ) of an equation that you did factor.

Here is a photo of how you should feel when you're finished! See you next week.