What do I do when quadratic equations aren't written in the standard format ax^2 + bx + c = 0 ?

This isn't a trick so much as a way to let you show you can think for yourself. You might be thrown off initially if a quadratic equation is in a format that you don't recognise, but usually all it takes is a few easy steps to rearrange it into something more manageable. For example, let's take the equation 4x^2 + 6x = 36 We can tell immediately that the equation is quadratic because it contains x^2 (it doesn't matter how many x squareds there are, just that they are there). First of all, we need to see if we can simplify the equation in any way. Here, all the coefficients are multiples of 2, so we can divide both sides by 2, giving 2x^2 + 3x = 18. Now, to make the right hand side equal to 0, all we need to do is subtract 18 from both sides: 2x^2 + 3x -18 = 18 - 18 2x^2 + 3x - 18 = 0 Now the equation resembles the standard format and you can use the quadratic formula or completing the square to solve it! Take extra care when using the formula if the 'c' value is negative, like it is here (remember a negative multiplied by a negative makes a positive). Note: sometimes you might see quadratic equations with letters other than x. It doesn't matter if it's y^2, n^2 or f^2, they all work in the same way.