Lecture One

1.0

Introductions to polynomials

A polynomial is group of terms with variable and coefficients which are then
combined together via mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction,
division and multiplication. The general form of polynomial is given below:

f ( x )=k n x n +k n1 x n1+ +k 2 x 2+ k 1 x +k 0

Eq. 01

Polynomials such as a quadratic function have many real life applications and it
can model projectile motions, conic sections, kinematics of objects and a lot
more!
Key notes:

Where f(x) means that this function has only one variable which is x and
the output of this function only depends on x. For example, f(x,y)
indicates that this function depends on variable x and y.
The constant n must be a positive whole number integer. For example, 1,
2, 3, 4... etc

This is chapter, we will be focusing on different solutions to a quadratic function

and visually interpret the solutions on a Cartesian co-ordinate system.

1.1

Quadratic functions

The general form of a quadratic function is given by:

2

f ( x )=a x +bx +c

Eq. 02

When a question asks you to solve an equation such as the one above, it means
to solve to x when f(x) = 0. In order to solve this, we begin by factorising the
function which means to write the function as a product of two factors.
Example (1)

Solve to following function

x 2+3 x +2=0
( x +2 ) ( x+1 ) =0
There are three types of solution to a quadratic equation and the above example
is called a unique solution, because the constants in the factors are different.
The discriminant equation is a perfect way to determine the solution type and it
is provided below:
Table 1 - Types of solutions

Discriminant
2

b 4 ac >0

Solution type
Unique

Examples

( x+ 2 ) (x+3)

b 4 ac =0

Repeated
squares)

b24 ac <0

Complex

(perfect

( x+5 ) (x+5)

or

( x+ 5)2

( x+ ( 2+ i )) ( x+(2i))

Please keep in mind that in this chapter we will only look at unique and repeated
roots. Once we have a solid grip on those, complex roots in cubic functions will
become a walk in the park.

1.2

Complete the square

This is an absolute essential skill that you must learn because this would allow
you to solve any quadratic function and an important part of solving cubic
functions.
In order to understand how this method works, consider the following perfect
square:

( x+ a)2=x 2+ 2ax +a 2=0

Eq. 03

The important note here is that the second term of the equation, if we can divide
the second by 2 and remove the variable x and drop the square term, we would
get back exactly what is on the left hand side (apart from the a 2)
We can always find a perfect square in any quadratic function just like the term
on the left hand side of the above example with a constant left behind. Lets look
at an example
Example (2)

Solve the following equation

x 2+ 4 x1=0
Now we have made a perfect square within a quadratic function. However, by
doing this, we are creating an extra term, why? Lets see below

(x+ 2)21=0
(x+ 2)2=( x 2+ 4 x )+ 4
The +4 term is produced from the perfect square and we can need to remove it
by simply subtracting 4. Therefore

x 2+ 4 x1=( x +2)2 41=0

x 1,2=2 5

PLease keep in mind that

(x+ 2)24=x 2+ 4 x