Completing the square can be a useful method for solving quadratic equations in cases in which it is not easy to rewrite an expression in factored form. For example, let’s solve this equation:

First, we’ll add to each side to make things easier on ourselves.

To complete the square, take of the coefficient of the linear term, 5, which is , and square it, which is . Add this to each side:

Notice that is equal to 25, and rewrite it:

Since the left side is now a perfect square, let’s rewrite it:

For this equation to be true, one of these equations must true:

To finish up, we can subtract  from each side of the equal sign in each equation.