Read this section to review the process of solving quadratic equations by using the quadratic formula.
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
Before you get started, take this readiness quiz.
When we solved quadratic equations in the last section by completing the square, we took the same steps every time. By the end of the exercise set, you may have been wondering 'isn't there an easier way to do this?' The answer is 'yes'. In this section, we will derive and use a formula to find the solution of a quadratic equation.
We have already seen how to solve a formula for a specific variable 'in general' so that we would do the algebraic steps only once and then use the new formula to find the value of the specific variable. Now, we will go through the steps of completing the square in general to solve a quadratic equation for . It may be helpful to look at one of the examples at the end of the last section where we solved an equation of the form as you read through the algebraic steps below, so you see them with numbers as well as 'in general'.
Source: Rice University, https://openstax.org/books/elementary-algebra-2e/pages/10-3-solve-quadratic-equations-using-the-quadratic-formula
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