Can someone explain to me how to find the vertex form of this equation?

y = - x^2 + 12x-4

Do i use the - b/2a formula? I just need this to be explained better biased on a equation i need to solve.

The quadratic equation has the general formula:

y = ax^2 + bx + c

The vertex form has the general formula:

y = a (x-h) ^2 + k

To get the vertex formula, we will need to get the values of a, h and k as follows:

1 - The value of a:

The value of "a" in the vertex form is the same as the value of "a" in the quadratic form

Therefore: a = - 1

2 - The value of h:

the value of "h" can be computed using the formula:

h = - b / 2a

From the given quadratic equation: b = 12 and a = - 1

Therefore: h = - 12 / 2 (-1) = 12/2 = 6

3 - The value of k:

The value of k can be computed easily by evaluating y at the calculated h as follows:

The given equation is: y = - x^2 + 12x - 4

Compute the result at x=h=6 to get k as follows:

k = y = - (6) ^2 + 12 (6) - 4 = 32

Therefore, based on the above calculations, the vertex form would be:

y = a (x-h) ^2 + k

y = - (x-6) ^2 + 32