SOLVING QUADRATIC EQUATIONS

A quadratic equation is any equation of the following form, where a, b, c are constants with 𝑎 ≠ 0:

𝒂𝒙𝟐 + 𝒃𝒙 + 𝒄 = 𝟎
There are several methods for solving such an equation, as indicated below:

I Square root property

II Factoring method

III Completing the square method (not discussed in this treatment)

−𝑏±√𝑏2 −4𝑎𝑐
IV Using the Quadratic Formula x=
2𝑎

Note that that the quadratic formula, while always guaranteeing the answers, is not always the best method to solve
a quadratic equation. The following examples show how to handle different types of quadratic equations.

Examples:

1. Solve the quadratic equation: 2𝑥 2 − 32 = 0

The above equation can be solved by any one of the above described methods I-IV, but the method I would be the
easiest.

2𝑥 2 − 32 = 0

2𝑥 2 = 32

𝑥 2 = 16

Now use the square root property: √𝑥 2 = √16

𝑥 = ±√16

∴ 𝑥 =±4

2. Solve the quadratic equation: 2𝑥 2 − 3𝑥 = 0

Again, don’t think about the quadratic formula for something very simple like this. The best method to solve this
one is the factoring method indicated in II. Before the factoring is done, make sure one side is equal to zero, and
this is automatically true in our case. Also, since the left-hand side is a binomial, it is a lot easier than factoring a
trinomial.
 2𝑥 2 − 3𝑥 = 0

𝑥(2𝑥 − 3) = 0

Use the zero-product property now: ∴ 𝑥 = 0 𝑜𝑟 2𝑥 − 3 = 0

3
∴ 𝑥 = 0 𝑜𝑟 𝑥 =
2
3. Solve the quadratic equation: 2𝑥 2 − 3𝑥 = 2

Unlike the previous two examples, this quadratic equation has all three terms present. First, move all the terms to
one side to create a zero on the other side.

2𝑥 2 − 3𝑥 − 2 = 0

We can now use the factoring method (II) or the quadratic formula (IV) to solve this equation. Let us illustrate
both methods.

By factoring:

The left-hand side of the above equation is a trinomial. So it can be factored, say by trial and error method (i.e.
the reverse-foil method):

(2𝑥 + 1)(𝑥 − 2) = 0

2𝑥 + 1 = 0 𝑜𝑟 𝑥 − 2 = 0
1
∴𝑥=− 𝑜𝑟 𝑥 = 2
2

Using Quadratic Formula:

Look at the equation 2𝑥 2 − 3𝑥 − 2 = 0 and find a, b, and c. Thus, we get 𝑎 = 2, 𝑏 = −3, and 𝑐 = −2. Now use
the quadratic formula mentioned before.

−𝑏±√𝑏 2 −4𝑎𝑐 −(−3) ± �(−3)2 −4(2)(−2) 3 ± √25 3± 5

𝑥= = = =
2𝑎 2(2) 4 4
1
∴ 𝑥 = 2 𝑜𝑟 𝑥 = −
2

Note that both methods give the same answer.

4. Solve the quadratic equation: 2𝑥 2 = 1 + 4𝑥

First, move all the terms to the left-hand side to get zero on the other side. This gives 2𝑥 2 − 4𝑥 − 1 = 0.
However, unlike the previous example, the trinomial 2𝑥 2 − 4𝑥 − 1 on the left-hand side does not factor! In a
case like this, the quadratic formula is the best choice. So use the quadratic formula with 𝑎 = 2, 𝑏 = −4 and
𝑐 = −1.
 −𝑏 ± √𝑏2 − 4𝑎𝑐 −(−4) ± �(−4)2 − 4(2)(−1) 4 ± √24 4 ± 2√6 2(2 ± √6 )
𝑥= = = = =
2𝑎 2(2) 4 4 4
2 ± √6
=
2

5. Solve the equation: 𝑥 4 = 9𝑥 2 − 20

Note that the given equation is NOT a quadratic equation! This is because the highest power on x is not 2, but 4.
However, using a simple trick you can convert it into a quadratic equation in a different variable.

Let 𝑢 = 𝑥 2 . This means 𝑢2 = 𝑥 4 , and therefore, the given equation can be written as follows:

𝑢2 = 9𝑢 − 20

𝑢2 − 9𝑢 + 20 = 0

(𝑢 − 4)(𝑢 − 5) = 0

𝑢 − 4 = 0 𝑜𝑟 𝑢 − 5 = 0

𝑢 = 4 𝑜𝑟 𝑢 = 5

However, recall that we want to solve for the x-variable, not for the u-variable. By recalling that = 𝑥 2 , we can
now solve for the x-variable, as given below:

𝑥 2 = 4 𝑜𝑟 𝑥 2 = 5

∴ 𝑥 = ±2 𝑜𝑟 𝑥 = ±√5

Note that there are four solutions to the equation, which matches with the degree of the given equation.