Checking Your Work
Completing the square requires several steps. It is useful to check if the work done to convert a quadratic function from standard form to
vertex form is accurate. This can be done with technology as well as without technology. To check your work using technology, use your graphing calculator, or other graphing program, to compare the graphs of the original standard form and the converted
vertex form. If the two graphs lie on top of one another, then
completing the square has been done correctly. To check your work without technology, expand the converted
vertex form back into standard form. If this matches the original form given, then
completing the square has been done correctly.