What's the name for this writing of a polynomial of degree 2?

Question

Going from $$2 x^2 + 12 x + 25$$

to the form (1) $$2(x+3)^2+7$$

is called "mise sous forme canonique du polynôme du second degré" in French, but it seems (I looked in various sources) that the translation for that is not "canonical form".

Does this way of writing a polynomial of degree 2 have a name in English?

Note : (1) is very useful when, for example, you want to compute the primitive of: $$\frac{1}{2 x^2 + 12 x + 25}$$ When writing $$\frac{1}{2(x+3)^2+7},$$ you are not for from $k \ u' / (1 + u^2)$ whose primitive is $k\ arctan(u)+C$.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 02 '14 at 09:21

1

It is called completing the square.

answered Oct 02 '14 at 09:21

Sheheryar Zaidi

2,714

Thanks! Here is a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Completing_the_square – Basj Oct 02 '14 at 09:27
That is it, yes! You're welcome. – Sheheryar Zaidi Oct 02 '14 at 09:28

What's the name for this writing of a polynomial of degree 2?

1 Answers1