Determining the discriminant can help you find how solutions a quadratic equation would have.

Exp.

a=5
b=4
c=-9

Put these values into the part of the quadratic equation.

16-4(-45)

16–180

16+180=196

In this case the discriminant is positive so there would be 2 solutions for the quadratic equation. If it were to be negative there would be no solution and if it was equal to zero their would be one.