Help with the square root method in PreCalculus Honors?

Question

Please help in a step by step fashion to show me how to utilize the square root method on a problem like this

(8x-3)^2=5

or this

(2x+8)^2=27

I really want to understand the process please, not just the answer:) Thanks!

Answer 1

just take the square root of both sides of the equation...

squrt (8x-3)^2 = squrt 5

8x-3 = (plus or minus) squrt 5

and so forth...

same thing for the other one. just don't forget that you have to isolate the square when u do that. In these problems it was already done. And don't forget plus or minus

Answer 2

I assume you're solving for x?

Well, when you have an equation like you do up there, you can take the square root of both sides.

so in the first one, you would end up with 8x-3 = +/- root(5)

then you can solve for x like normal. ie x = (+/- root(5) + 3) / 8