Theory of Quadratic Equations

Popoola Odunayo E.
1. Introduction
This unit is about how to solve quadratic equations. A quadratic equation is one which must contain
a term involving x2, e.g. 3x2, −5x2 or just x2 on its own. It may also contain terms involving x, e.g. 5x
or −7x, or 0.5x. It can also have constant terms - these are just numbers: 6, -7, ½.
It cannot have terms involving higher powers of x, like x3. It cannot have terms like in it. In
general a quadratic equation will take the form
ax2 + bx + c = 0
a can be any number excluding zero. b and c can be any numbers including zero. If b or c is zero then
these terms will not appear.
In this unit we will look at how to solve quadratic equations using four methods:
• solution by factorization
• solution by completing the square
• solution using a formula
• solution using graphs
Factorization and use of the formula are particularly important.
2. Solving quadratic equations by factorization
In this section we will assume that you already know how to factorize a quadratic expression. If this
is not the case you can study other material in this series where factorization is explained.
Example 2.1
Suppose we wish to solve 3x2 = 27.
We begin by writing this in the standard form of a quadratic equation by subtracting 27 from each
side to give 3x2 −27 = 0.
We now look for common factors. By observation there is a common factor of 3 in both terms. This
factor is extracted and written outside a pair of brackets. The contents of the brackets are adjusted
accordingly:
3x2 −27 = 3(x2 −9) = 0
Notice here the difference of two squares which can be factorized as
3(x2 −9) = 3(x −3)(x +3) = 0
If two quantities are multiplied together and the result is zero then either or both of the quantities
must be zero. So either
x −3 = 0 or x +3 = 0
so that
x=3 or x = −3
These are the two solutions of the equation.
Example 2.2
Suppose we wish to solve 5x2 +3x = 0.
We look to see if we can spot any common factors. There is a common factor of x in both terms. This
is extracted and written in front of a pair of brackets:
x(5x +3) = 0
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Then either x = 0 or 5x +3 = 0 from which . These are the two solutions.
In this example there is no constant term. A common error that students make is to cancel the
common factor of x in the original equation:

so that 5x +3 = 0 giving
But if we do this we lose the solution x = 0. In general, when solving quadratic equations we are
looking for two solutions.
Example 2.3
Suppose we wish to solve x2 −5x +6 = 0.
We factorize the quadratic by looking for two numbers which multiply together to give 6, and add to
give −5. Now
−3×−2 = 6 −3+−2 = −5
so the two numbers are −3 and −2. We use these two numbers to write −5x as −3x −2x and proceed
to factorize as follows:
2x2 −5x +6 = 0 x −3x
−2x +6 = 0 x(x −3)−2(x
−3) = 0 (x −3)(x −2) = 0
from which
x −3 = 0 or x −2 = 0
so that
x=3 or x=2
These are the two solutions.
Example 2.4
Suppose we wish to solve the equation 2x2 +3x −2 = 0.
To factorize this we seek two numbers which multiply to give −4 (the coefficient of x2 multiplied by
the constant term) and which add together to give 3.
4×−1 = −4 4+−1 = 3
so the two numbers are 4 and −1. We use these two numbers to write 3x as 4x − x and then factorize
as follows:
2 2x
+3x −2 = 0
2

2x +4x − x −2 = 0
2x(x +2)−(x +2) = 0
(x +2)(2x −1) = 0
from which
x +2 = 0 or 2x −1 = 0
so that

x = −2 or
These are the two solutions.
Example 2.5
Suppose we wish to solve 4x2 +9 = 12x.
First of all we write this in the standard form:
 4x2 −12x +9 = 0
We should look to see if there is a common factor - but there is not. To factorize we seek two
numbers which multiply to give 36 (the coefficient of x2 multiplied by the constant term) and add to
give −12. Now, by inspection,
−6×−6 = 36 −6+−6 = −12
so the two numbers are −6 and −6. We use these two numbers to write −12x as −6x−6x and proceed
to factorize as follows:
2 4x
−12x +9 = 0
2

4x −6x −6x +9 = 0
2x(2x −3)−3(2x −3) = 0
(2x −3)(2x −3) = 0
from which
2x −3 = 0 or 2x −3 = 0

so that or

These are the two solutions, but we have obtained the same answer twice. So we can have quadratic
equations for which the solution is repeated.

Example 2.6
Suppose we wish to solve x2 −3x −2 = 0.
We are looking for two numbers which multiply to give −2 and add together to give −3. Never mind
how hard you try you will not find any such two numbers. So this equation will not factorize. We
need another approach. This is the topic of the next section.
Exercise 1
Use factorization to solve the following quadratic equations
a) x2 −3x +2 = 0 b) 5x2 = 20 c) x2 −5 = 4x d) 2x2 = 10x
e) x2 +19x +60 = 0 f) 2x2 + x −6 = 0 g) 2x2 − x −6 = 0 h) 4x2 = 11x −6
3. Solving quadratic equations by completing the square
Example 3.1
Suppose we wish to solve x2 −3x −2 = 0.
In order to complete the square we look at the first two terms, and try to write them in the form ( )2.
Clearly we need an x in the brackets:
(x + ?)2 because when the term in brackets is squared this will give the term x2
We also need the number , which is half of the coefficient of x in the quadratic equation,

because when the term in brackets is squared this will give the term −3x

However, removing the brackets from we see there is also a term which we do not
want, and so we subtract this again. So the quadratic equation can be written

3
Simplifying

We can write these solutions as

or
Again we have two answers. These are exact answers. Approximate values can be obtained using a
calculator.

Exercise 2

a) Show that x2 +2x = (x +1)2 −1.

Hence, use completing the square to solve x2 +2x −3 = 0.

b) Show that x2 −6x = (x −3)2 −9. x2 −6x = 5.

Hence use completing the square to solve

c) Use completing the square to solve x2 −5x +1 = 0.

d) Use completing the square to solve x2 +8x +4 = 0.

4. Solving quadratic equations using a formula

Consider the general quadratic equation ax2 + bx + c = 0.

There is a formula for solving this: .

It is so important that students should learn it.
We will illustrate the use of this formula in the following example.
Example 4.1
Suppose we wish to solve x2 −3x −2 = 0.
Comparing this with the general form ax2 + bx + c = 0 we see that a = 1, b = −3 and c = −2.
These values are substituted into the formula.
 x = −b ±√b −4ac
2

2a

−(−3)± √ (−3)2 −4×1×(−2)

= 2×1
= 3±√9+8
2

= 3 ±√17
2
These solutions are exact.
Example 4.2
Suppose we wish to solve 3x2 = 5x −1. 2
First we write this in the standard form as 3x −5x +1 = 0 in order to identify the values of a, b and c.
We see that a = 3, b = −5 and c = 1. These values are substituted into the formula.

−b ± √b2 −4ac
2a

−(−5)± √ (−5)2 −4×3×1

= 2x3
5±√25−12
= 6
5±√13
= 6
Again there are two exact solutions. Approximate values could be obtained using a calculator.

Exercise 3
Use the quadratic formula to solve the following quadratic equations.
a) x2 −3x +2 = 0
b) 4x2 −11x +6 = 0
c) x2 −5x −2 = 0
d) 3x2 +12x +2 = 0
e) 2x2 = 3x +1
f) x2 +3 = 2x
g) x2 +4x = 10
h) 25x2 = 40x −16

5. Solving quadratic equations by using graphs

In this section we will see how graphs can be used to solve quadratic equations. If the coefficient of
x2 in the quadratic expression ax2 + bx + c is positive then a graph of y = ax2 + bx + c will take the
form shown in Figure 1(a). If the coefficient of x2 is negative the graph will take the form shown in
Figure 1(b)
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Figure 1. Graphs of y = ax2 + bx + c have these general shapes

We will now add x and y axes. Figure 2 shows what can happen when we plot a graph of
y=ax + bx+ cfor the case in which a is positive.
2

(a) (b) (c)

y y y

x x x

Figure 2. Graphs of y = ax2 + bx + c when a is positive

The horizontal line, the x axis, corresponds to points on the graph where y = 0. So points where the
graph touches or crosses this axis correspond to solutions of ax2 + bx + c = 0.
In Figure 2, the graph in (a) never cuts or touches the horizontal axis and so this corresponds to a
quadratic equation ax2 + bx + c = 0 having no real roots.
The graph in (b) just touches the horizontal axis corresponding to the case in which the quadratic
equation has two equal roots, also called ‘repeated roots’.
The graph in (c) cuts the horizontal axis twice, corresponding to the case in which the quadratic
equation has two different roots.
What we have done in Figure 2 for the case in which a is positive we can do for the case in which a
is negative. This case is shown in Figure 3.
(a) (b) (c)
y y y

x x

Figure 3. Graphs of y = ax2 + bx + c when a is negative

Referring to Figure 3: in case (a) there are no real roots. In case (b) there will be repeated roots. Case
(c) corresponds to there being two real roots.
Example 5.1
Suppose we wish to solve2 x2 −3x −2 = 0.
We consider y = x −3x −2 and produce a table of values so that we can plot a graph.
 x −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4 5
x2 4 1 0 1 4 9 16 25
6 3 0
−2 −2 −2
x2 3x 2 8 2 -2 -4 -4 -2 2 8

From this table of values a graph can be plotted, or sketched as shown in Figure 4. From the graph
we observe that solutions of the equation x2 − 3x − 2 = 0 lie between −1 and 0, and between 3 and 4.
y
8

-2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 x
-2

Figure 4. Graph of y = x2 −3x −2

Example 5.2
We can use the same graph to solve other equations. For example to solve x2 −3x −2 = 6 we can
simply locate points where the graph crosses the line y = 6 as shown in Figure 5.
y
8
6

-2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 x

Figure 5. Using the graph of y = x2 −3x −2 to solve x2 −3x −2 = 6

Example 5.3
We can use the same graph to solve 2 x2−3x−5 = 0 by rewriting the equation as x2−3x−2−3 = 0y = 3

and then as x −3x −2 = 3. We can then locate points where the graph crosses the line in order to solve the
equation.
Exercise 4
By plotting the graph y = x2 −5x +2, solve the equation x2 −5x +2 = 0, giving your answers to 1
decimal place.
Use your graph to solve the equations x2 −5x +2 = 4, x2 −5x −1 = 0, x2 −5x +2 = 2x.