Quadratics

Quadratics can be defined as a polynomial equation of a second degree, which implies that it
comprises a minimum of one term that is squared. It is also called quadratic equations. The general
form of the quadratic equation is:

ax² + bx + c = 0

where x is an unknown variable and a, b, c are numerical coefficients. For example, x2 + 2x +1 is a

quadratic or quadratic equation. Here, a ≠ 0 because if it equals zero then the equation will not
remain quadratic anymore and it will become a linear equation, such as:

bx+c=0

Thus, this equation cannot be called a quadratic equation.

The terms a, b and c are also called quadratic coefficients.

The solutions to the quadratic equation are the values of the unknown variable x, which satisfy the
equation. These solutions are called roots or zeros of quadratic equations. The roots of any
polynomial are the solutions for the given equation.

Quadratic Equation

The polynomial equation whose highest degree is two is called a quadratic equation or sometimes
just quadratics. It is expressed in the form of:

ax² + bx + c = 0

where x is the unknown variable and a, b and c are the constant terms.

Quadratics Formula

The formula for a quadratic equation is used to find the roots of the equation. Since quadratics have
a degree equal to two, therefore there will be two solutions for the equation. Suppose ax² + bx + c =
0 is the quadratic equation, then the formula to find the roots of this equation will be:

x = [-b±√(b2-4ac)]/2a

The sign of plus/minus indicates there will be two solutions for x. Learn in detail the quadratic
formula here.

To solve Quadratic Equations,

There are basically four methods of solving quadratic equations. They are:

 Factoring
 Completing the square
 Using Quadratic Formula
 Taking the square root

What does the solution tell us?

The two solutions are the x-intercepts of the equation, i.e. where the curve crosses the x-axis. The
equation
looks like:

where the solutions to the quadratic formula, and the intercepts are x = - 4 and x = 1.

Now you can also solve a quadratic equation through factoring, completing the square, or graphing,
so why do we need the formula?

Because sometimes quadratic equations are a lot harder to solve than that first example.

Tips when using the quadratic formula

 Be careful that the equation is arranged in the right form: ax² + bx + c = 0 or it won’t work!
 Make sure you take the square root of the whole (b2-4ac), and that 2a is the denominator of
everything above it.
 Watch your negatives: b2 can’t be negative, so if b starts as negative, make sure it changes to
a positive since the square of a negative or a positive is a positive.
 Keep the +/- and always be on the look out for TWO solutions.
 If you use a calculator, the answer might be rounded to a certain number of decimal places.
If asked for the exact answer (as usually happens) and the square roots can’t be easily
simplified, keep the square roots in the answer.

Discriminant

b2 − 4ac 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 a pair of Complex solutions