Quadratic Equations

Ishan Bhargava
September 27, 2014

Introduction

A quadratic equation is a polynomial which has only one independent variable

and a degree of exactly two. Its standard form is
ax2 + bx + c
These equations always have two solutions. However, the solutions may
be repeated or they may be complex numbers. People have been solving
quadratic equations for more than four thousand years. Solving a quadratic
equation involves finding for which value of x does the function equal zero.
There are many different ways to solve quadratic equations which we will
look at.

Graphing Quadratic Equations

y = f (x) x2

80

3x2 + 2x + 4
x2 + 20

60
40
20
Root
4

y-intercept
Root x
2
4

Vertex
2

Figure 1: Graphs of various quadratic equations

Quadratic equations take the shape of a parabola. The most basic parabola
is y = x2 , as seen in the red graph in figure one. There are many different
parts to the parabola. Significant parts of the parabola include the vertex
and the roots. The parabola of a quadratic equation can open up or down,
depending on whether the x2 term has a negative coefficient or a positive
coefficient. The red and blue parabolas both include positive coefficients, so
they open up. However, the green parabola has a negative coefficient, so it
opens down. Parabolas always intersect the y-axis at the point (0, c).
As previously mentioned, solving a quadratic equation involves finding
where it equals zero. When we look at the graph of a quadratic, we can
visually find where the graph crosses the x-axis. You may know from the
fundamental theorum of algebra that every quadratic equation should have
two roots. But the red equation only seems to have one root, and the blue
equation does not touch the x-axis at all. This is not true; the red equation
has the root 0 with a multiplicity of two, which means that it is repeated
twice. The blue equation has two roots as well, but they are imaginary
numbers. We will learn how to find imaginary roots in the section about the
quadratic formula.
There is another form of a quadratic equation called vertex form.
y = a(x h)2 + k
2

It tells us that the vertex is located at (h, k) and the parabola opens up or
down depending on the value of a. Parabolas can have either a minimum or
maximum value, which is located at the vertex. If the parabola opens up,
then it has a minimum value. If it opens down, it has a maximum value.
To graph parabolas by hand, we can make use of the property that
parabolas are symmetric around a line called the axis of symmetry. We
can use the following equation to find where the axis of symmetry is.
b
Theorem 1. The equation of the line for the axis of symmetry is x = 2a

Proof. Given the standard form of a quadratic y = ax2 + bx + c.

dy
= 2ax + b
dx
Set

dy
dx

to zero

0 = 2ax + b
2ax = b
b
x=
2a

To find the vertex, you can plug in the value of the axis of symmetry
into the equation. For example, the axis of symmetry for the equation y =
x2 + 2x + 1 is located at 22 = 1. From this, we find the vertex is located at
(1)2 + 2(1) + 1 = 0. So the coordinates of the vertex for this parabola are
(1, 0). From here, we can calculate the values of some points to the right
of the axis of symmetry and reflect across to graph the parabola.

Solving Quadratic Equations

We have looked at how to graph quadratic equations, and we know that

we can solve them by looking where the graph crosses or touches the xaxis. But if we dont have a graphing utility, it can take a long time to
accurately create the graph by hand. Furthermore, we will not be able to
find irrational or complex roots. For this, we will need to use algebra to solve
the equation. There are many methods of solving quadratics using algebra,
including factoring, completing the square, and the quadratic formula. We
will look at some examples of solving quadratics using all three methods.
For the first example, we will solve y = x2 + 2x 15. We notice that 3
and 5 add up to 2 and multiply to 15. Therefore the factored equation is
(x 3)(x + 5). So the solutions to this equation are x = 5, 3.
We were able to solve the first equation easily. If the equation does not
have integer solutions, we might use the process of completing the square.
For the next example, lets solve f (x) = 2x2 + 8x 6. First, we will set the
equation equal to zero and move the constant term to that side.
2x2 + 8x = 6
Next we will divide by the coefficient of the second-degree term
x2 + 4x = 3
Now we can complete the square by taking half of the first-degree term, and
adding its square to both sides
x2 + 4x + 4 = 3 + 4
The left side is a perfect square trinomial, so we will factor it.
(x + 2)2 = 7
Now well take the square root of both sides, keeping in mind that there are
both positive and negative square roots. After this, we will subtract two
from both sides, and we will have found the solutions.

x = 2 7

Finally, we will use the quadratic formula to solve an equation with imaginary solutions.
Theorem 2. The roots of a quadratic equation are located at x =

b b2 4ac
2a

Proof. We will find the formula by completing the square.

Starting with the standard form ax2 +bx+c, we will subtract the constant
term c and divide by a.
b
c
x2 + x =
a
a
Now we will complete the square on the left side.
b
b
x + x+
a
2a

!2

c
b
= +
a
2a

!2

We will factor the perfect square trinomial and expand the right side.
b
x+
2a

!2

b2
c
= + 2
a 4a

Next we must add the two fractions on the right side. We can do this by
multiplying ac by 4a. Well also switch the order of the two fractions.
b
x+
2a

!2

b2
4ac
2
2
4a
4a

Well subtract and take the square root of both sides

s

b
b2 4ac
b2 4ac
x+
=
=
2a
4a2
2a

Finally, we can isolate x by subtracting

x=

b
2a

to get the quadratic formula.

b2 4ac
2a

This will give us all the solutions to a quadratic equation, whether they
are rational, irrational, or complex. We can tell which kind of root we will
get, using what is called the discriminant. To find this, we calculate b2 4ac
from the coefficients. If this number is positive, then the roots are both real.
If the number is a perfect square, then the roots are both rational. If the
discrimant is negative, the the roots are imaginary. You may have noticed
that this is the part of the quadratic formula under the square root symbol.
Lets see how we can apply the quadratic formula to solve the equation
which in section two we thought had no solutions: 3x2 + 2x + 4. The discriminant is 22 4(3)(4) = 44 so we know our answer will be a complex number.
Our values of a, b, and c are 3, 2, and 4 respectively. We can substitute these
values into the formula.

2 44
x=
6
We can simplify the square root by factoring out 4i.

2 4i 11
x=
6
The entire fraction can be reduced by two.

1 2i 11
x=
3
Finally, well write the answer in the standard form of a complex number.
1 2
x = i 11
3 3
As you can see, even the equation we thought had no solutions earlier, does
have two solutions. Although they cannot be seen graphically and do not
exist on the real number line, there are number which make the equation
equal to zero.

Conclusion

Quadratic equations have been studied for thousands of years. We learned

four different ways of solving them, and we also learned to identify the yintercept, the roots, and the vertex of the parabola. We learned of the
quadratic formula, and how to derive it. Hopefully, this has helped you
conduct operations with quadratic equations.
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