Solving the Equation (x-7)² = 60
This article will guide you through the steps to solve the equation (x-7)² = 60. This is a quadratic equation in disguise, and we'll use the square root property and basic algebraic manipulation to find the solutions.
Step 1: Take the Square Root of Both Sides
The first step is to isolate the squared term. Since we have a squared term on the left side, we can take the square root of both sides. Remember that when taking the square root of a number, we must consider both positive and negative solutions.
√(x-7)² = ±√60
This simplifies to:
x-7 = ±√60
Step 2: Simplify the Radical
We can simplify the radical on the right side. The prime factorization of 60 is 2 x 2 x 3 x 5, so we can take out a pair of 2s:
x-7 = ±2√15
Step 3: Isolate x
To isolate x, we need to add 7 to both sides of the equation:
x = 7 ± 2√15
Step 4: Solutions
This gives us our two solutions:
- x = 7 + 2√15
- x = 7 - 2√15
Therefore, the solutions to the equation (x-7)² = 60 are x = 7 + 2√15 and x = 7 - 2√15.