Students complete the square to find the center and radius of circles. First, they look at a partially completed problem. They analyze what’s already been done and decide what steps must be taken to finish. Then they execute the process on their own.

As students interpret the partially completed work of completing the square, they are making sense of a problem (MP1). As they do the work of creating and rewriting perfect square trinomials to reveal properties of a circle, they are looking for and making use of structure (MP7).

Technology isn't required for this lesson, but there are opportunities for students to choose to use appropriate technology to solve problems. We recommend making technology available.