 A quadratic equation is an equation of degree 2, where the highest exponent is 2. Here are some examples: 3x2 - 5x + 4 = 0 x2 - 7x + 12 = 0 4x2 - 8 = 0 x2 + x = 0 8x2 = 0 The coefficients can be any Real number; we've shown integral coefficients here for simplicity. The exponents must be whole numbers. There must be a term with exponent '2'. Here all have been rearranged so that they equal zero; this doesn't have to be the case. We will show you how to solve quadratic equations. A quadratic equation can have two different answers, two answers the same (one answer), or no answers at all. In the latter case, you learn in Math 30/31 that there are two imaginary answers. In other words, a quadratic equation always has two answers. We'll discuss that here, and relate the solutions to the x intercepts of a quadratic function (parabola). Here are the three types of quadratic equations; click on each to see examples of how they're solved. With one exception, all examples need to be rearranged to equal zero first. where a and b could be any positive or negative Real number. |