Check Perfect Square Trinomial: Determine if the quadratic can be factored as a perfect square trinomial. A perfect square trinomial is in the form (a−b)2=a2−2ab+b2 or (a+b)2=a2+2ab+b2. We need to check if 4m2−20m+25 fits this pattern.
Identify Square Roots: Identify the square root of the first term and the last term.The square root of 4m2 is 2m, and the square root of 25 is 5. We will check if the middle term is twice the product of these two numbers.
Verify Middle Term: Check if the middle term is twice the product of the square roots from Step 2.2×(2m)×5=20m, which matches the middle term of the quadratic expression. This confirms that the expression is a perfect square trinomial.
Write Factored Form: Write the factored form using the square roots from Step 2.Since the middle term is negative, we use the pattern (a−b)2 to write the factored form. Therefore, the factored form of 4m2−20m+25 is (2m−5)2.
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