This past week in pre cal 11, we learned about the quadratic formula and how it relates to quadratic equations. I didn’t take physics, so this was a new topic for me. This formula is a new way to solve for x in quadratic equations. It makes it much easier as you are just solving by inputting your already given values into the formula.
The quadratic formula is X= -B +/- the square root of B^2 – 4(a)(c) all over 2(a)
The specific part I thought was interesting in the formula is called the discriminant. It’s the part under the square root, meaning B^2 – 4(a)(c). This part of the equation is key as it can tell you a lot about your solution without even doing the full equation.
It’s called the discriminant. it relates to the laws of square rooting something. You know that square rooting a negative isn’t a valid solution as you can’t square root a negative; therefore, there is no solution. If you get 1 under the square root sign, there’s only going to be one answer as square root of 1 is 1, and if you get any positive rational number, it’s going to have two possible answers.
I thought this was a really helpful way to just easily check if the equation is worth solving cause if you have a negative under the square root then you save yourself already a lot of time of trying to solve an unsolvable equation.
Here’s two photos explaining/ showing examples. I just found this very helpful and time saving way to solve quadratic.