11/27/2015

Calculicious Capstone Essay- Allie Chazen - Google Docs

AllieChazen
Mathematics
Ms.CarleeHollenbeck
23November2015
CalculiciousCapstone
ThetopicIcompletedresearchisonQuadraticEquationsandFormulas.Quadratic
formulasaremadefromquadraticequations.Forexample,inordertosolveaquadraticequation,
weneedaquadraticformula.Quadraticequationsareequationsthatcancreatecertainlinesona
graph,usuallyparabolas.Furthermore,unlikelinearequationsthatcreatestraightlines,quadratic
equationscreateparabolas,whicharecurvedlines.Youcanseeparabolasinwaysthataperson
wouldnotnormallythinkof.Onewayyoucanseeaparabolaintheworldaroundyouiswhena
tennisballisthrownupintheair.Whenthrowingaballupwards,itdoesnotalwaysgostraight
down,insteaditcurveswhenitisabouttogobackdown.Whenthecurvinghappensthatiswhen
youwouldnoticeaparabola.Thisisonequickexampleofapracticalapplicationofquadratic
equationsandformulas,andthroughmyresearchIfoundthattherearevariousmore.
Around400BC,theBabylonianshadtheideasandmathematicalinformationtogetto
knowingwhataquadraticequationconsistsof.Thegroupdidnotreallyhaveanunderstanding
ofwhatanequationwasinordertocreateaquadraticequation.However,whattheydidhave
wascertainalgorithmicapproachestosolvingproblemsthateventuallyleduptoaquadratic
equation.TheirapproachtosolvingproblemswerethestepsforCompletingaSquare.The
solutionstotheirmathematicalproblemswerealwayspositivebecausetheanswerwasusuallya
length.Theyhadnotfoundhowtogetanegativenumberyet.Around300BC,Euclid,aGreek

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11/27/2015

Calculicious Capstone Essay- Allie Chazen - Google Docs

mathematicianusuallyreferredtoastheFatherofGeometry,createdageometricalapproach
tounderstandingthemaththatalreadyexisted.Later,Euclidfoundanequationusedwithroots.
Around590670AD,themathematicianBrahmaguptaandotherHinduspushedthematheven
further.Theybroughtinnegativenumbersandmathabbreviationsforunknownvariablesina
problem.Brahmaguptawasthefirsttosolvequadraticequationswithnegativeandpositive
symbols.Around800AD,amannamedAlKhwarizmicreatedsixstepstodifferenttypesof
equationsthatdidnotincludenegativesorzeros.Thesixstepshecreatedbecameknownas
CompletingtheSquare.TheQuadraticequationwasthenestablishedinthe12thcenturyby
AbrahambarHiyyaHanasiinEurope.AbrahambarHiyyaHanasisfindingswerepublishedina
bookin1145withwaysoncompletingthequadraticequation.
DuringmytimeresearchingthistopicIhavelearnedmanymathtermssuchasroots,
quadraticequations,coefficients,parabolas,polynomial,completingthesquare,and
quadraticformula.Eachtermconnectstoanothertermbuthavedifferentandimportant
meanings.Ifoundoutthatarootisanumberthatcanbemultipliedbyitself.Avariableisjusta
letterthatcanrepresentanynumericalvalueintheequation.Forexample,thevariablexis
calledeitherasolutionorarootiftheequationequalszero.Youcanseethattherootsareexactly
thexinterceptsofthequadraticequation.Thatisbecauseoftheintersectionbetweenthegraph
ofthequadraticequationwiththexaxis.Next,Ifoundoutthatparabolasareacurvedline,
2

whichareproducedbyquadraticequations.Thisisbecauseofthe "x ". Theformofaquadratic

is,"y=ax2+bx+c".Whengraphing,theleadingcoefficient"a"willdeterminehownarrowor
widetheparabolawillturnout.For|a|>1(suchasa=2ora=4),theparabolawillbe
narrow,becauseitgrowsfaster(2Xor4Xasfast).For|a|<1(suchasa=1/3ora=1/4),the

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11/27/2015

Calculicious Capstone Essay- Allie Chazen - Google Docs

parabolawillbewide,becauseitgrowsslower(1/3Xor1/4Xasfast).Also,ifaisnegative,
thentheparabolawillbeplacedupsidedown,andcanresembleafrown.Thenexttermis
CompletingtheSquare,thatiswhenyoutakeaquadraticequationandsolveitinordertofind
itsroots.AnotherwaytosolveaquadraticequationistousetheQuadraticFormula.The
quadraticformulawillalsofindtherootsofaquadraticequation.Belowisthequadraticformula
andasolutiontoaquadraticequation.
QuadraticFormula:

Detail:""=PlusorMinus=2solutions,"b"=SquareALLof
"b","4ac"=Plugin#'sfor"a"and"c"thenmultiplethat#by"4",
"2a"=putinthe#for"a"thenmultiplyby"2".

GeneralFormofaQuadraticEquation:

Detail:"ax"=Coefficientofxterm,"bx"=Coefficientofxterm,"c"
=Coefficientonthe"x"to"0"term.

StepstoSolvingaQuadraticEquationwiththeQuadraticFormula:

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11/27/2015

Calculicious Capstone Essay- Allie Chazen - Google Docs

YouCanApplyQuadraticEquationsWhen:
Projectileproblem:Havingaballbeshotupintheairfromtheedgeofthehouse,thatis40feet
abovethegroundwithainitialvelocityof10feetpersecond.Tryingtofindhowlongittakes
fortheballtohittheground.
Calculatingtheareaofsomething:Buildingarectangularbox.Ifyouwanttofindasidethatis
doublethelengthoftheotherside.
Figuringoutaprofit:Knowinghowmuchsuppliestousetomaketheprofit.
Findingaspeed:Estimatetheirspeedwhengoingupanddownahill.
IthinkthatalloftheseapplicationscanbesolvedorsupportedbyusingtheQuadratic
Equation.OneexampleofanQuadraticEquationusewouldbeforsolvinghowlongitwilltake
aballtohittheground.
Problem:
Aballisshotupintotheairfromtheedgeofahouse,40feetabovetheground.Itsinitial
velocityis10feetpersecond.Howlongdoesittakefortheballtohittheground?
Equation: h = 12t2 + 10t + 40
1) Icanfigurethisoutsimplyby,firstorganizingwhattheproblemalreadygives
me,andwhattheproblemisaskingfor.
2) Figureoutwhateverythingmeans:
a) h (Hittheground)=0
b) t =Time
c) Figureatwhichtimeseverythinghitsat0.
2

Answer: 0 = 12t + 10t + 40

5)Simplify(Makesmaller)
a. Everythingisdivisible( ) by2

Answer: 0 = 6t2 + 5t + 20

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11/27/2015

Calculicious Capstone Essay- Allie Chazen - Google Docs

6)UseQuadraticformula
Completethesquare:

i. Figureoutwhat a, b, andc arefromwhatIhavesofarwithAnswer

a = 6t2 ; b = 5t; c = 20

ii.

iii. FindwhattheQuadraticformulatellsme
1.

Lookattheroots( t)

a. t = b

4(a)(c)

2(a)

2.

PlugintheinformationIhavetotheequation

b. t = 5
3.

2(6)

4( 6)(20)

Solve

25 + 480

c. t = 5
d. t =

505

t= 5

t=

17
12

t=

27
12

t =

12
12
22

9
t
4

12

= 94

7)GettheanswerthatsONLYpositive
a. t = 94 =Seconds

IfeellikeIexplainedwhatQuadraticEquationandFormulaisprettygood.IthinkthatI
explainedeverystepclearlyandtypedeverystepclearlyaswell.Iexplainedthistopicwell
becauseIorganizedwhatiswhatintheproblem,Iclearlystatedhowtogettheanswerfromthe
mathIpresentedtoo.Ifoundthereweresomanystepstotakewiththisproblem,thatyoureally
hadtoconcentrateonwhatyou'redoing.Itriedtoorganizethispaperinawaytoexplain
everythingbutinaeasierandmorelegibleway.

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