EC115 Methods of Economic Analysis

Lecture 3: Quadratic equations 1

Week 4, Autumn 2008
Lecture Outline
Solving quadratic equations
Graphing quadratic functions
Systems of quadratic equations
Reading: Reading: Renshaw Ch. 4 (4.14.12)
1) Quadratic Equations
A quadratic equation is a mathematical expression that contains an
equals sign and an unknown variable that is raised to the power 2.
For example: x
2
3x + 4 = 0; 5x
2
4 = 0, etc.
The left-hand side of the above equations is called quadratic
expression.
To solve a quadratic equation with one variable, we can use one of
the two methods:
1) Factorisation
2) The general formula.
1) Quadratic Equations
Method 1 (factorisation) is less general, since
there are cases of quadratic equations that
cannot be factorised.
Method 2 works with any quadratic equation.
1.1) Factorisation
Consider the expression: x
2
+ cx + d (1)
This can also be expressed as (x + A)(x + B), (2)
where (x + A) and (x + B) are called the factors of the expression.
AB B A x x
AB Ax xB x
B x A B x x
B x A x
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ +
) (
) ( ) (
) )( (
2
2
Equation (1) and (3) are same if only if: A + B = c and AB = d. In
that case, we can write expression (1) as expression (2) as they
are exactly the same.
(3)
1.1) Factorisation
As an example, consider the quadratic equation:
x
2
+ 7x + 12 = 0 (4)
Let us assume that the factors are (x + A) and (x + B). From before, we
know that
x
2
+ 7x + 12 = (x + A)(x + B) (5)
We also know that
(x + A)(x + B) = x
2
+ x(A + B) + AB (6)
From (5) and (6), we know that
x
2
+ 7x + 12 = x
2
+ x(A + B) + AB (7)
But (7) can be true only if A + B = 7 and AB = 12. This is the case when A =
3 and B = 4. We can check this by plugging these values of A and B into the
right-hand side of (7).
1.1) Factorisation
We can now factorise equation (4):
x
2
+ 7x + 12 = (x + 3)(x + 4) = 0 (8)
We can see from equation (8), that it is true, when
i) (x + 3) = 0, which is the case when x = -3
ii) (x + 4) = 0, which is the case when x = -4.
x
1
= -3 and x
2
= -4 are the two solutions (or roots) of this
quadratic equation. A quadratic equation generally has
two roots.
1.1) Factorisation
The method of solving quadratic equations by
factorisation does not work in every case and it
can be time consuming to find the factors of a
quadratic equations.
An example of a quadratic equation that cannot
be factorised is: x
2
+ 3x + 4 = 0
1.2) General Formula
Given any quadratic formula
ax
2
+ bx + c = 0,
where a, b, c are given constants,
the solutions (roots) are given by the formula:
a
ac b b
x
2
4
2

=
(9)
1.2.1) Solving quadratic equations using
the formula
Recall the quadratic equation form above: x
2
+ 7x + 12 = 0.
Comparing with the general form (ax
2
+ bx + c = 0), we have
a = 1, b = 7 and c = 12. Substituting these values into the
formula:
4
2
1 7
3
2
1 7
2
1 7
2
1 7
2
48 49 7
1 2
12 1 4 7 7
2
4
2 2
=

=
+
=

=

=

=

=

=
or either
a
ac b b
x
The solutions can be checked by substituting into the given
equation: (-3)
2
+ 7(-3) + 12 = 0 and (-4)
2
+ 7(-4) + 12 = 0.
1.2.2) Cases where a quadratic expression
cannot be factorised
We can now see why equation x
2
+ 3x +4 = 0 couldnt be
solved by factorisation:
2
7 3
2
16 9 3
1 2
4 1 4 3 3
2

=

=

= x
The square root of a negative number does not exist. When we
have such a result for a quadratic equation, we say that the
equation does not have real solutions.
However, this does not mean that equation x
2
+ 3x + 4 = 0 does
not have solutions. It just means that the solutions are not real
numbers.
1.2.3) Perfect Square
Consider the equation:
x
2
+ 10x + 25 = 0 (10)
In this case, a = 1, b = 10, c = 25.
Using the formula:
5
2
0 10
2
100 100 10
1 2
25 1 4 10 10
2
=

=

=

= x
Expression x2 + 10x + 25 has only one root, -5. It is called the perfect
square because it equals the area of a square with sides of length (x
+ 5). It has two equal roots, also called a single, repeated root.
1.2.4) Generalisation
Thus, in solving a quadratic equation we should look at the
sign of the expression under the square root in formula (9).
There are three possible cases:
1) b
2
> 4ac: the sign of the number under the square root is
positive. The quadratic equation has two distinct roots.
2) b
2
= 4ac: the number under the square root is zero. The
quadratic equation has only one root, a repeated root.
3) b
2
< 4ac: the sign of the number under the square root is
negative. The quadratic equation does not have roots that are
real numbers.
2) Quadratic Functions
A quadratic function is a relationship between a dependent
variable and an independent variable, with the independent
variable raised to the power of 2.
For example, y = x
2
+ 7x 8 (11)
The general formula for a quadratic function is:
y = ax
2
+ bx + c, (12)
where a, b and c are parameters.
2.1) Graphing Quadratic Functions
Remember that in the linear case, we needed only two
points to obtain the graph of straight line. Here, things
become a bit more complicated.
What we do know is that a quadratic function is
represented by a U-shaped curve that is called a
parabola.
The simplest form of a parabola is y = x
2
, that can be
obtained from (11) by setting: a=1 and b = c = 0.
2.1) Graphing Quadratic Functions
To graph a quadratic function we go through the following
steps:
Step 1: Determine the shape of the parabola by looking at the
sign of the coefficient associated with x
2.
i) a>0: the graph of a function like (12) will be a U-shaped
curve.
ii) a<0: the graph of a function like (12) will be an
inverted U-shaped curve.
The value of a determines how steeply the curve turns up (if
a>0) or turns down (a<0).
For the function in (11), the graph will be a U-shaped curve.
2.1) Graphing Quadratic Functions
Step 2: Find the value of y where the parabola intersects the y-axis
(value of y when x=0). For (11), when x = 0, we have y = -8. The
graph will pass through point (0, -8).
Step 3: Find the values of x where the parabola intersects the x-axis
(where y=0). This means that you need to solve the quadratic
equation (find values of x
1
and x
2
). For (11), we find x
1
= -8 and x
2
=
1, so we know that the graph also goes through points (-8, 0) and (1,
0).
Step 4: Find the point where the parabola reaches the maximum or
the minimum. Using the solutions of the equation in step 3, the x-
coordinate of such a point is defined as:
5 . 3
2
1 8
*
2
*
2 1
=
+
=
+
= x
x x
x
2.1) Graphing Quadratic Functions
Insert x* into the original function (11) and you
can get the y-coordinate of that turning point:
25 . 20 * ) 8 ( ) 5 . 3 ( 7 ) 5 . 3 ( 1 * * *) ( *
2 2
= + + = + + = y y c bx x a y
We can also find x* with the following formula:
5 . 3
1 2
7
*
2
* =

= x
a
b
x
2.1) Graphing Quadratic Functions
x
2
y
x
x
1
x*, y*
y = x
2
+ 7x 8
2.1) Graphing Quadratic Functions
As you can notice, the parabola is symmetric around the
vertical line passing through x* (thats why x* lies in the middle
of x
1
and x
2
).
Furthermore, we can see graphically the solutions of y = x
2
+
7x 8. They are the points where the graph cuts the x-axis (y
= 0).
Remark: if you need to show graphically the solutions of a
quadratic equation like x
2
+ 7x 8 = 0, simply rewrite that
equation as a function: y = x
2
+ 7x 8, then follow the steps
defined above.
2.2) Summary
Consider a quadratic function: y = ax
2
+ bx +c.
1)The graph of the function is a U-shaped curve if a>0, and
an inverted U-shaped curve, if a<0. The absolute
magnitude of a determines how steeply the curve slopes.
2)The constant term, c, determines the intercept of the
curve on the y-axis (the point where x = 0).
3)The term x shifts the curve up and down. If b>0, then the
curve shifts up when x>0 and down when x<0. If b<0,
this shift is reversed. The absolute magnitude of b
determines the strength of this shift.
2.3) Graphical Solution of Quadratic
Functions
In the previous example we saw that the parabola cut
the x-axis twice: The function had two real solutions.
Now consider function y = x
2
+ 4x + 4. Using the general
formula, we find that there is only one solution: x = -2.
Following the steps (1)(4) described above, we can plot
this function in a graph. We see that the graph is only
tangent to the x-axis at one single point.
2.3) Graphical Solution of Quadratic
Functions
y = x
2
+ 4x + 4
y = x
2
+ 4x + 20
Solution x
1
= -2
2.3) Graphical Solution of Quadratic
Functions
We have also graphed function y = x
2
+ 4x + 20
Notice that the graph does neither cut nor is tangent to
the x-axis. This means that the function does not have
(real) solutions.
In this case steps (1)(4) do not work properly. We can
graph the function by computing points in the graph,
namely, giving values to x and then computing the
corresponding y (as in a table of values).
2.4) Summary
From all of the previous discussion we can conclude
that:
1) If the graph of a quadratic function cuts the x-axis at
two points, then the function has two (real) solutions
2) If the graph is just tangent to x-axis at one point, the
function has one (real) solution.
3) If the graph does not cut or is not tangent to x-axis,
then the function has no (real) solutions
3) Inverse Functions
The inverse function of a quadratic function is the analogue of that
of a linear function.
For example, for y = x
2
, its inverse is y x =
But note that the inverse is not a function it is only a relation. In a
function, there is one and only one value of the dependent variable
associated to each value of the independent variable.
Here, that is not true. Associated with a value of y (the independent
variable) there are two values of x (the dependent variable). For
example, when y=4, we have x= + 2 and x= - 2.
Notice that this relation only makes sense if y is positive.
3) Graphically
2
y x or x y = =
x y =
y
x
4.1) Systems of Quadratic Equations
Consider the following system of two quadratic equations with
two variables, y and x:
y = 2x
2
4x + 3
y = x
2
+ 2x 2
Note that the left-hand side of each equation is equal to y. To
solve the system, we can equalize the two right-hand sides:
2x
2
4x + 3 = x
2
+ 2x 2
Rearranging gives:
x
2
6x + 5 = 0.
4.1) Systems of Quadratic Equations
Use the general formula to find the solutions:
1 , 5
2
4 6
1 2
5 1 4 ) 6 ( ) 6 (
2 1
2
= =

= x x x
Plugging x
1
= 5 into one of the original equations gives us the
corresponding value y
1
=33. When x
2
=1, y
2
=1.
Thus, the solution of our system is given by: x
1
= 5, y
1
=33 and
x
2
=1, y
2
=1. These are the coordinates of the two points where
the graphs of the quadratic functions of our system cut one
another.
4.2) Graphical Solution to Systems of
Quadratic Equations
Notice that if you want to plot the first equation of the
system you will find that y = 2x
2
4x + 3 has no real
solutions.
To plot the function, compute some coordinates by
giving values to x and finding the associated values of y,
for example, when x = 0, y = 3; x = 1, y = 1; x = 2, y = 3.
The point where the parabola reaches a minimum must
be when x=1 and y=1.
4.2) Graphical Solution to Systems of
Quadratic Equations
Plotting the second function is easy, since it has
two real solutions.
73 . 2 , 72 . 0
2
12 2
2 1


= x x x
And x* = -1, y* = -3 (The point where the function
reaches its minimum).
4.2) Graphical Solution to Systems of
Quadratic Equations
x
1
= 5, y
1
= 33
x
2
=1, y
2
= 1
y = x
2
+ 2x - 2
y = 2x
2
4x + 3
4.2) Graphical Solution to Systems of
Quadratic Equations
A system of two quadratic equations has solutions only if
the graphs of the two equations will cross at some
points.
A system of two quadratic equations has no real
solutions if the graphs of the two quadratic equations
do not intersect at any point.
A system will have a repeated solution if the graphs of
the two equations will be tangent at only one point.