CPM Homework Help : INT2 Problem 8-63

For each expression below, what real-number value of $x$ will yield the lowest possible value of the expression? For example, in part (a), if $x = 5$ , then the value of the expression is $25$ . If $x =-4$ , then the value of the expression is $16$ . Are there values of $x$ that will result in smaller values of the expression?

Hint :

Each of these expressions is squared. When you square a quantity, what is the lowest result you can get?

$x^2$
Answer (a):
The lowest value will occur when $x = 0$ .

$(x -1)^2$

$(x + 7)^2$
Answer (c):
$x = -7$