Quadratic Equation:- In elementary algebra, a quadratic equation(from the Latin

quadratus for "square") is any equation having the form. Where x represents an unknown, and
a, b, and c represent known numbers such that a is not equal to 0. If a = 0, then the equation is
linear, not quadratic.

Practical life example:-

Balls, Arrows, Missiles and Stones

If you throw a ball (or shoot an arrow, fire a missile or throw a stone) it will go
up into the air, slowing down as it goes, then come down again ...

... and a Quadratic Equation tells you where it will be!

1)An example of a Quadratic Equation:

Quadratic Equations make nice curves, like this one:

Standard Form
The Standard Form of a Quadratic Equation looks like this:

a, b and c are known values. a can't be 0.

"x" is the variable or unknown (we don't know it yet).

Here are some more examples:

2x2 + 5x + 3 =
0

In this one a=2, b=5 and c=3

x2 3x = 0

This one is a little more tricky:

Where is a? Well a=1, and we don't usually write

"1x2"

b = -3

And where is c? Well c=0, so is not shown.

5x 3 = 0

Oops! This one is not a quadratic equation: it is

missing x2
(in other words a=0, which means it can't be quadratic)

Hidden Quadratic Equations!

So the "Standard Form" of a Quadratic Equation is

ax2 + bx + c = 0
But sometimes a quadratic equation doesn't look like that! For example:

In disguise

In Standard Form

a, b and c

x2 = 3x 1

Move all terms to left hand side

x2 3x + 1 = 0

a=1, b=3, c=1

2(w2 2w) = 5

Expand (undo the brackets),

and move 5 to left

2w2 4w 5 = 0

a=2, b=4, c=5

z(z1) = 3

Expand, and move 3 to left

z2 z 3 = 0

a=1, b=1, c=3

How to Solve It?

The "solutions" to the Quadratic Equation are where it is equal to zero.
There are usually 2 solutions (as shown in the below above).
They are also called "roots", or sometimes "zeros"

There are 3 ways to find the solutions:

1. We can Factor the Quadratic (find what to multiply to make the

Quadratic Equation)
2. We can Complete the Square, or
3. We can use the special Quadratic Formula:

Just plug in the values of a, b and c, and do the calculations.

We will look at this method in more detail now.

About the Quadratic Formula

Plus/Minus
First of all what is that plus/minus thing that looks like

The

means there are TWO answers:

Here is why we can get two answers:

But sometimes we don't get two real answers, and the "Discriminant" shows
why ...

Discriminant
Do you see b2 4ac in the formula above? It is called the Discriminant,
because it can "discriminate" between the possible types of answer:

when b2 - 4ac is positive, we get two Real solutions

when it is zero we get just ONE real solution (both answers are the
same)

when it is negative we get two Complex solutions

Complex solutions? Let's talk about them after we see how to use the
formula.

Using the Quadratic Formula

Just put the values of a, b and c into the Quadratic Formula, and do the
calculations.

Example: Solve 5x + 6x + 1 = 0
Coefficients are:

Quadratic Formula:

Put in a, b and c:

Solve:

a = 5, b = 6, c = 1

x = b (b2 4ac)2a

x = 6 (62 451)25

x = 6 (36 20)10
x = 6 (16)10
x = 6 410

x = 0.2 or 1

Answer: x = 0.2 or x = 1

And we see them on this graph.

Check -0.2:

5(0.2) + 6(0.2) + 1
= 5(0.04) + 6(0.2) + 1
= 0.2 1.2 + 1
=0

Check -1:

5(1) + 6(1) + 1
= 5(1) + 6(1) + 1
=56+1
=0

Remembering the Formula

Complex Solutions?
When the Discriminant (the value b2 4ac) is negative we
get Complex solutions ... what does that mean?
It means our answer will include Imaginary Numbers . Wow!

Example: Solve 5x + 2x + 1 = 0
Coefficients are:

Note that the Discriminant is negative:

Use the Quadratic Formula:

a = 5, b = 2, c = 1

b2 4ac = 22 451 = -16

x = 2 (16)10

The square root of -16 is 4i

(i is -1, read Imaginary Numbers to find out more)

So:

x = 2 4i10

Answer: x = 0.2 0.4i

The graph does not cross the x-axis. That is why

we ended up with complex numbers.

In some ways it is easier: we don't need more calculation, just leave it as 0.2

0.4i.

Summary

Quadratic Equation in Standard Form: ax2 + bx + c = 0

Quadratic Equations can be factored

Quadratic Formula: x = b (b2 4ac)2a

When the Discriminant (b24ac) is:

positive, there are 2 real solutions

zero, there is one real solution

negative, there are 2 complex solutions

Factoring Quadratics

AQuadratic Equation in Standard Form

(a, b, and c can have any value, except that a can't be 0.)

To "Factor" (or "Factorise" in the UK) a Quadratic is to:

find what to multiply to get the Quadratic

It is called "Factoring" because we find the factors (a factor is something we
multiply by)

Example
The factors of

x2 + 3x 4 are:
(x+4) and (x1)

Why? Well, let us multiply them to see:

(x+4)(x1) = x(x1) + 4(x1)

= x2 x + 4x 4
= x2 + 3x 4

Multiplying (x+4)(x1) together is called Expanding .

In fact, Expanding and Factoring are opposites:

Expanding is easy, but Factoring can often be tricky

It is like trying to find out what ingredients

went into a cake to make it so delicious.
It can be hard to figure out!

So let us try an example where we don't know the factors yet:

Common Factor
First check if there any common factors.

Example: what are the factors of

6x2 2x = 0 ?

6 and 2 have a common factor of 2:

2(3x2 x) = 0
And x2 and x have a common factor of x:

2x(3x 1) = 0

And we have done it! The factors are 2x and 3x 1,

We can now also find the roots (where it equals zero):

2x is 0 when x = 0

3x 1 is zero when x = 1/3

And this is the graph (see how it is zero at x=0 and x=1/3):

But it is not always that easy ...

Guess and Check

Maybe we can guess an answer?

Example: what are the factors of

2x2 + 7x + 3 ?

No common factors.
Let us try to guess an answer, and then check if we are right ... we might get
lucky!

We could guess (2x+3)(x+1):

(2x+3)(x+1) = 2x2 + 2x + 3x + 3
= 2x2 + 5x + 3 (WRONG)
How about (2x+7)(x1):

(2x+7)(x1) = 2x2 2x + 7x 7
= 2x2 + 5x 7 (WRONG AGAIN)
OK, how about (2x+9)(x1):

(2x+9)(x1) = 2x2 2x + 9x 9
= 2x2 + 7x 9 (WRONG AGAIN)
Oh No! We could be guessing for a long time before we get lucky.
That is not a very good method. So let us try something else.

A Method For Simple Cases

Luckily there is a method that works in simple cases.
With the quadratic equation in this form:

Step 1: Find two numbers that multiply to give

and add to give
Example:

b.

2x2 + 7x + 3

ac is 23 = 6 and b is 7

ac (in other words a times c),

So we want two numbers that multiply together to make 6, and add up to 7

In fact 6 and 1 do that (61=6, and 6+1=7)
How do we find 6 and 1?
It helps to list the factors of ac=6, and then try adding some to get b=7.
Factors of 6 include 1, 2, 3 and 6.
Aha! 1 and 6 add to 7, and 61=6.
Step 2: Rewrite the middle with those numbers:
Rewrite 7x with 6x and 1x:

2x2 + 6x + x + 3
Step 3: Factor the first two and last two terms separately:
The first two terms 2x2 + 6x factor into 2x(x+3)
The last two terms x+3 don't actually change in this case
So we get:

2x(x+3) + (x+3)
Step 4: If we've done this correctly, our two new terms should have a clearly
visible common factor.
In this case we can see that (x+3) is common to both terms
So we can now rewrite it like this:

2x(x+3) + (x+3) = (2x+1)(x+3)

Check: (2x+1)(x+3) = 2x2 + 6x + x + 3 = 2x2 + 7x + 3 (Yes)

Much better than guessing!

Let us try another example:

Example:

6x2 + 5x 6

Step 1: ac is 6(6) = 36, and b is 5

List the positive factors of ac = 36: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, 36
One of the numbers has to be negative to make 36, so by playing with a few
different numbers I find that 4 and 9 work nicely:

49 = 36 and 4+9 = 5

Step 2: Rewrite 5x with 4x and 9x:

6x2 4x + 9x 6
Step 3: Factor first two and last two:

2x(3x 2) + 3(3x 2)
Step 4: Common Factor is (3x 2):

(2x+3)(3x 2)

Check: (2x+3)(3x 2) = 6x2 4x + 9x 6 = 6x2 + 5x 6 (Yes)

Finding Those Numbers

The hardest part is finding two numbers that multiply to give
give

ac, and add to

b.

It is partly guesswork, and it helps to list out all the factors .

Here is another example to help you:

Example: ac = 120 and b = 7

What two numbers multiply to 120 and add to 7 ?
The factors of 120 are (plus and minus):
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 24, 30, 40, 60, and 120
We can try pairs of factors (start near the middle!) and see if they add to 7:

10 x 12 = 120, and 10+12 = 2 (no)

8 x 15 = 120 and 8+15 = 7 (YES!)

Why Factor?
Well, one of the big benefits of factoring is that we can find the roots of the
quadratic equation (where the equation is zero).
All we need to do (after factoring) is find where each of the two factors becomes
zero

Example: what are the roots (zeros) of

6x2 + 5x 6 ?

We already know (from above) the factors are

(2x + 3)(3x 2)
And we can figure out that
(2x + 3) is zero when

x = 3/2

and
(3x 2) is zero when

So the roots of

x = 2/3

6x2 + 5x 6 are:
3/2 and 2/3

Here is a plot of

6x2 + 5x 6, can you see where it equals zero?

And we can also check it using a bit of arithmetic:

At x = -3/2: 6(-3/2)2 + 5(-3/2) - 6 = 6(9/4) - 15/2 - 6 = 54/4 - 15/2 - 6 =

6-6 = 0

At x = 2/3: 6(2/3)2 + 5(2/3) - 6 = 6(4/9) + 10/3 - 6 = 24/9 + 10/3 - 6 =

6-6 = 0

Graphing

We can also try graphing the quadratic equation . Seeing where it equals zero
can give us clues.

Example: (continued)
Starting with

6x2 + 5x 6 and just this plot:

The roots are around x = 1.5 and x = +0.67, so we can guess the roots are:

3/2 and 2/3

Which can help us work out the factors 2x + 3 and 3x 2
Always check though! 0.67 might not be 2/3 for example.

The General Solution

There is also a general solution (useful when the above method fails), which
uses the quadratic formula :

Use that formula to get the two answers

x+ and x (one is for the "+" case,

and the other is for the "" case in the ""), and we get this factoring:

a(x x+)(x x)
Let us use the previous example to see how that works:

Example: what are the roots of

6x2 + 5x 6 ?

Substitute a=6, b=5 and c=6 into the formula:

x = (b [b2 4ac]) / 2a
x = (5 [52 46(6)]) / 26
= (5 [25 + 144]) / 12
= (5 169) / 12
= (5 13) / 12
So the two roots are:

x+ = (-5 + 13) / 12 = 8/12 = 2/3,

x = (-5 13) / 12 = 18/12 = 3/2
(Notice that we get the same result we did with the factoring we used before)

Now put those values into

a(x x+)(x x):

6(x 2/3)(x + 3/2)

We can rearrange that a little to simplify it:

3(x 2/3) 2(x + 3/2) = (3x 2)(2x + 3)

And we get the same factors as we did before!

Completing the Square

"Completing the Square" is where we ...
... take a Quadratic Equation like this:

and turn it into this:

ax2 + bx + c = 0

a(x+d)2 + e = 0

For those of you in a hurry, I can tell you that:

and:

But if you have time, let me show you how to "Complete the Square"
yourself.

Completing the Square

Say we have a simple expression like

x2 + bx. Having x twice in the same

expression can make life hard. What can we do?

Well, with a little inspiration from Geometry we can convert it, like this:

As you can see

x2 + bx can be rearranged nearly into a square ...

... and we can complete the square with

(b/2)2

In Algebra it looks like this:

x2 + bx

+ (b/2)2

(x+b/2)2

"Complete the Square"

So, by adding

(b/2)2 we can complete the square.

And

(x+b/2)2 has x only once, which is easier to use.

Keeping the Balance

Now ... we can't just add

(b/2)2 without also subtracting it too! Otherwise

the whole value changes.

So let's see how to do it properly with an example:
Start with:
("b" is 6 in this case)

Complete the Square:

Also subtract the new term

Simplify it and we are done.

The result:

x2 + 6x + 7
And now

(x+3)2 2

x only appears once, and our job is done!

A Shortcut Approach
Let us look at the result we want:
When we expand

(x+d)2 + e

(x+d)2 we get x2 + 2dx + d2, so:

Now we can "force" an answer:

6x must end up as 2dx, so d must be 3

Next we see that 7 must become d2 + e = 9 + e, so e must be 2
We know that

And we get the same result

(x+3)2 2 as above!

Now, let us look at a useful application: solving Quadratic Equations ...

Solving General Quadratic Equations by Completing the

Square
We can complete the square to solve a Quadratic Equation (find where it is
equal to zero).
But a general Quadratic Equation can have a coefficient of

a in front of x2:

ax2 + bx + c = 0
But that is easy to deal with ... just divide the whole equation by "a" first, then
carry on:

x2 + (b/a)x + c/a = 0

Steps
Now we can solve a Quadratic Equation in 5 steps:

Step 1 Divide all terms by a (the coefficient of x2).

Step 2 Move the number term (c/a) to the right side of the equation.

Step 3 Complete the square on the left side of the equation and
balance this by adding the same value to the right side of the
equation.
We now have something that looks like (x + p)2 = q, which can be solved rather
easily:

Step 4 Take the square root on both sides of the equation.

Step 5 Subtract the number that remains on the left side of the
equation to findx.

Examples
Here are two examples:

Example 1: Solve x2 + 4x + 1 = 0
Step 1 can be skipped in this example since the coefficient of x2 is 1
Step 2 Move the number term to the right side of the equation:

x2 + 4x = -1
Step 3 Complete the square on the left side of the equation and balance this by
adding the same number to the right side of the equation.
(b/2)2 = (4/2)2 = 22 = 4

x2 + 4x + 4 = -1 + 4
(x + 2)2 = 3
Step 4 Take the square root on both sides of the equation:

x + 2 = 3 = 1.73 (to 2 decimals)

Step 5 Subtract 2 from both sides:

x = 1.73 2 = -3.73 or -0.27

And here is an interesting and useful thing.
At the end of step 3 we had the equation:

(x + 2 )2 = 3
It gives us the vertex (turning point) of x2 + 4x + 1: (2, -3)

Example 2: Solve 5x2 4x 2 = 0

Step 1 Divide all terms by 5

x2 0.8x 0.4 = 0
Step 2 Move the number term to the right side of the equation:

x2 0.8x = 0.4
Step 3 Complete the square on the left side of the equation and balance this by
adding the same number to the right side of the equation:
(b/2)2 = (0.8/2)2 = 0.42 = 0.16

x2 0.8x + 0.16 = 0.4 + 0.16

(x 0.4)2 = 0.56
Step 4 Take the square root on both sides of the equation:

x 0.4 = 0.56 = 0.748 (to 3 decimals)

Step 5 Subtract (-0.4) from both sides (in other words, add 0.4):

x = 0.748 + 0.4 = -0.348 or 1.148

Why "Complete the Square"?

Why complete the square when we can just use the Quadratic Formula to solve
a Quadratic Equation?
Well, one reason is given above, where the new form not only shows us the
vertex, but makes it easier to solve.
There are also times when the form ax2 + bx + c may be part of
a larger question and rearranging it as a(x+d)2 + e makes the solution easier,
because x only appears once.
For example "x" may itself be a function (like cos(z)) and rearranging it may
open up a path to a better solution.
Also Completing the Square is the first step in the Derivation of the Quadratic
Formula
Just think of it as another tool in your mathematics toolbox.

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5Question 6 Qu

estion 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10

Footnote: Values of "d" and "e"

How did I get the values of d and e from the top of the page?

Start with
Divide the equation by a

Put c/a on other side

Add (b/2a)2 to both sides

"Complete the Square"

Now bring everything back...

... to the left side

... to the original multiple a of x2

And you will notice that we have got:

Where:

a(x+ d)2 + e = 0
, and:

Derivation of Quadratic Formula

A Quadratic Equation looks like this:

And it can be solved using the Quadratic Formula:

That formula looks like magic, but you can follow the steps to see how it comes
about.

1. Complete the Square

ax2 + bx + c

has "x" in it twice, which is hard to solve.

But there is a way to rearrange it so that "x" only appears once. It is

called Completing the Square (please read that first!).
Our aim is to get something like x2 + 2dx + d2, which can then be simplified
to (x+d)2
So, let's go:
Start with
Divide the equation by a

Put c/a on other side

Add (b/2a)2 to both sides

The left hand side is now in the x2 + 2dx + d2 format, where "d" is "b/2a"
So we can re-write it this way:

"Complete the Square"

Now x only appears once and we are making progress.

2. Now Solve For "x"

Now we just need to rearrange the equation to leave "x" on the left

Start with

Square root

Move b/2a to right

That is actually solved! But let's simplify it a bit:

Multiply right by 2a/2a

Simplify:

Which is the Quadratic formula we all know and love: