Expert: Abe Mantell - 1/9/2008

Question
How do you determine if a polynomial is the difference of two squares?

Answer
Hello Leanna,

You look for excactly "the difference of two square"...
For example, x^2 - 25...notice that the first term "x^2"
is itself a perfect square, being x^2 ('x' squared), then
notice that 25 is also a perfect square, being 5^2...and
the two terms are being subtracted.  Thus,
x^2 - 25 = x^2 - 5^2 = (x+5)(x-5)

In general, x^2 - a^2 = (x+a)(x-a)

The following website may be of use to you:
http://www.webmath.com/factordiffsq.html

I hope this helps...TTYL, Abe