Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

PreCalculus for Engineers

Dr David J.J. Devlin

Lecture 1

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Introduction

Real numbers include integers (e.g -2,-1,0,1,2), rational numbers (e.g.

-1/2, 1/3), and irrational numbers (e.g. ,

2).

It is a continuous set of numbers. (Roughly speaking, there is no gap in

the set.) The set is unbounded. It goes from minus innity () to plus innity ().

The set of real numbers is denoted IR. If a number x is a real number, we may write

x IR, which means the number x is in the set IR.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

The Real Line

We can represent graphically the set of real numbers by a line.

1/2 3 2 1 0 1 2 2 3

negative real numbers

positive real numbers

Figure: Illustration of the real line.

Each number corresponds to a unique point along the line and conversely,

each point along the line corresponds to a unique real number.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Ordering Real Numbers

Denition: Real numbers have a beautiful property: they can be

ordered. Integers, rational numbers share the same property (as they are part of the set of real numbers), but for example, complex numbers do not.

Consider two real numbers a and b . We may write

a > b, which means a is strictly greater than b , if a b is a strictly positive number (i.e. positive, non-null). Equivalently a stands on the right of b along the real line.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Ordering Real Numbers: Some Properties

If a > b and b > c then a > c . If a > b then a + c > b + c , c IR. If a > b then a c > b c , c IR. [Note that this result is already If a > b and c is strictly positive then ac > bc .
Example: let a=2, b=1, c=3. Obviously a>b, and ac(=6)>bc(=3).

included in the statement above as subtracting c is equivalent to add c .]

If a > b and c is strictly negative then ac < bc .

Example: let a=2, b=1, c=-3. Obviously a>b, and ac(=-6)<bc(=-3).

Note that dividing by a number follows the same rules as multiplying by a number. If the number we divide by is positive then we keep the same inequality, if it is negative we need to reverse the inequality, as we see above for multiplication. Recall than dividing by c , is nothing but multiplying by 1/c .

Note: the symbol above means for all.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Ordering Real Numbers: Other Inequality Symbols

means greater than or equal to. < means strictly less than. means less than or equal to. All these inequalities follow similar properties.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Absolute Value

A real number can be positive (e.g. ) or negative (e.g. ). The

absolute value of a number is the value of the number disregarding its sign, or to be more specic considering it as positive. denoted |a| (also called the modulus of a) is a if a < 0, |a| = a if a 0.

Mathematically, we may say that the absolute value of a real number a,

Example: |2| = 2 and | 2| = (2) = 2.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Division By Zero
Dividing by zero does not make any sense. NEVER DIVIDE BY

ZERO!!!!!!!

Mathematically we say that the division by zero is undened. Let us

consider below some examples where we divide by zero and reach silly conclusions.

Example 1: 0/0 is anything you want.

Consider the harmless equation

a = c. b Multiplying the equation by b , we obtain a = bc . Now, imagine b = 0, that means that a = 0, while c can still be anything we want! Going back to the initial equation, we have 0 = c , c IR. 0 It clearly does not make sense. Rule: Do not ever divide an equation by something that could be zero.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Division By Zero
Example 2: 1 = 2 ?!

In this example, we are going to wrongly show that 1 = 2, again due to a wrong division by zero along the way. Again we start from the most harmless of all equation: a = b.

Now we multiply the equation by b to get, ab = b 2 . Then we add (b 2 2ab ) on both sides of the equation, ab + (b 2 2ab ) = b 2 + (b 2 2ab ). Simplifying (b 2 ab ) = 2(b 2 ab ). 1 = 2. which is obviously wrong. What happened? In the last step, we have divided the equation by b 2 ab . But since a = b , b 2 ab = 0, we have therefore divided by zero, and have reached a stupid conclusion.

Finally, if we divide the equation by the common factor b 2 ab , we obtain

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

The Quadratic Equation: Real Solutions

Consider the equation

ax 2 + bx + c = 0,

The two real solutions (or roots) to the quadratic equation are

where x is the unknown and a, b and c are three real constants. We shall assume that a = 0. Note: if a = 0, the equation becomes linear bx + c = 0 so x = c /b. b b 2 4ac , 2a

x= provided b 2 4ac 0.

Note that if you have an equation of the form

ax 2 + bx + c = 0, and that a and c have opposite sign, you will always nd two real solutions. Obviously, b 2 is positive as it is a square. If a and c have opposite sign, ac must be negative. So -4ac is positive. Therefore b 2 4ac is positive, so we can evaluate b 2 4ac.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

The Quadratic Equation: Real Solutions

Proof:

Dividing the equation by a, assumed non-null, we have x2 + b c x + = 0. a a

Noticing that 2 2 b b b2 b b x+ = x2 + 2 x + = x2 + x + 2 , 2a 2a 2a a 4a we have x2 + b x= a 2 b b2 x+ 2. 2a 4a

This manipulation is called completing the square. Our quadratic equation is then 2 2 b c b c b = 0, x2 + x + = x + a a 2a 4a2 a or 2 2 b b 4ac x+ . = 2a 4a2

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

The Quadratic Equation: Real Solutions

If b 2 4ac 0, b 2 4ac =

2 2 2 b 4ac b . = x+ 2a 2a b 2 4ac b = , 2a 2a

2 b 2 4ac , therefore

Finally

x+ which gives the result:

x=

b 2 4ac , 2a

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Discussion about solutions in general

Let us denote d = b 2 4ac .

If d 0, let us dene =

d . The solutions (or roots) x1 and x2 to the quadratic equation can be expressed as x1 = b , 2a b + 2a

and x2 =

If = 0, then x1 = x2 . There is only one root, called a double root. If = 0, then the two roots are dierent. Note that then x2 x1 = /a = 0. If d < 0, there cannot be real solutions. Going back to the result

2 b 4ac b 2 = x+ , 2a 4a2 we have an equation where the left-hand side is positive (as it is a square of a real number) and the right-hand side is negative. This is impossible for real numbers.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Properties of the solutions

Consider our real solutions

x1 = and x2 =
Then

b , 2a b + 2a

x1 + x2 =

b b + b = . 2a a 1 1 (b )(b +) = 2 (b 2 2 ), 4a2 4a

and x1 x2 = b 2a b + 2a =

x1 x2 =

4ac c 1 (b 2 (b 2 4ac )) = 2 = 4a2 4a a

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Properties of the Solutions

This means that in the equation

x2 +

b c x + = 0, a a

the coecient in front of the term in x (namely b /a) is the opposite of the sum of the roots (namely (x1 + x2 )), while the constant term (namely c /a) is the product of the roots (namely x1 x2 ). These properties are very handy when one of the roots is obvious. We can deduce the second one very rapidly.
We also see the obvious result that

x2 +

c b x + = x 2 (x1 + x2 )x + x1 x2 = (x x1 )(x x2 ) = 0. a a

Writing the quadrating equation in the latter form is called factorising

the equation.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

The Quadratic Equation

Example: Consider the equation

x 2 4x + 3 = 0 It is clear that x1 = 1 is a solution as (1)2 4 1 + 3 = 0. To nd the second root, we may use the fact that the sum of the roots is the opposite of the coecient in front of x , which is therefore 4 = (4), hence the second root x2 must be 4 1 = 3. Alternatively we could have used the fact that the product of the roots is the constant term in the equation: 3 .