a = - 3/2. The way I will work this is to first expand the left side. (a + 3)^2 = (a + 3)(a + 3) => (a + 3)(a + 3) = a^2 + 6a + 9 a^2 + 6a + 9 = a2 6a = - 9 a = - 9/6 a = - 3/2
@gpadlearnmaths OK. Just another POV. I am not saying that one method is easier or better than the other. I will do it that way just to confirm that I actually have a perfect square trinomial on the left side of the equation and confirm that I will only get one value for the unknown.
