In this lesson, you learned how to:

• Factor perfect square trinomials.
• Factor differences of squares.

Here are the activities that helped you reach those goals:

• 6.6.1: Identifying Perfect Square Trinomials
  • In this activity, you learned how to recognize perfect square trinomials. They always follow a pattern of $a^2+2ab+b^2$ or $a^2-2ab+b^2$.
• 6.6.2: Factoring Perfect Square Trinomials
  • In this activity, you learned how to factor perfect square trinomials. You can recognize that they will always factor to a form of $(a+b{)}^2$ or $(a-b{)}^2$. In some cases, you first need to factor the GCF out of the existing terms.
  • 6.6.2: Self Check
  • 6.6.2: Additional Resources
• 6.6.3: Factoring the Difference of Squares
  • In this activity, you learned how to factor using the difference of squares. In these problems, the middle term will always cancel to the form of $(a^2-b^2)$. There are no binomial factors that multiply together to get a sum of squares, so $a^2+b^2$ is prime.
  • 6.6.3: Self Check
  • 6.6.3: Additional Resources
• 6.6.4: Sorting Polynomials by Factoring Methods
  • In this activity, you practiced recognizing which of these two methods you would use to factor based on the polynomial you were given. You learned that it is possible to have a polynomial that requires both of these methods to be factored completely.

After these activities, you completed the following practice:

• 6.6.5: Practice