Tag: Discriminants

Week7- Discriminants

jeremyz2015 on

During week 7 of pre-cal 11, we learned how to find the discriminant of a general form of a quadratic equation.

In this quadratic formula:

x = \frac {-b +/- \sqrt {b^2 - 4ac}}{2a}

The discriminant is the part under the root sign:

b^2 - 4ac

Finding the solution to the discriminant of a quadratic equation will provide you will the type of roots you will get from the aforementioned quadratic equation.

To find the discriminant of a quadratic equation you need to learn the meaning of a,b,c in this case:

ax^2+bx+c, is the general form of the equation, and when you are trying to find the discriminant just put b^2-4ac in, such as:

4x^2+2x+6, the discriminant will be 2^2-4(4×6)=-92

And the range the discriminant is in it will provide you with the number of roots you will get from this quadratic equation; If your answer is a positive number, there are 2 roots, If your answer is a negative number, there are no real roots, If your answer is a 0, there is 1 root.