Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
His solution gives only one root, even when both roots are positive. [28] The Indian mathematician Brahmagupta included a generic method for finding one root of a quadratic equation in his treatise Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta (circa 628 AD), written out in words in the style of the time but more or less equivalent to the modern symbolic formula.
A solution in radicals or algebraic solution is an expression of a solution of a polynomial equation that is algebraic, that is, relies only on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, raising to integer powers, and extraction of n th roots (square roots, cube roots, etc.). A well-known example is the quadratic formula
The solutions of the quadratic equation ax 2 + bx + c = 0 correspond to the roots of the function f(x) = ax 2 + bx + c, since they are the values of x for which f(x) = 0. If a, b, and c are real numbers and the domain of f is the set of real numbers, then the roots of f are exactly the x-coordinates of the points where the graph touches the x-axis.
All quadratic equations will have two solutions in the complex number system, but need not have any in the real number system. For example, + = has no real number solution since no real number squared equals −1. Sometimes a quadratic equation has a root of multiplicity 2, such as: (+) =
The rate of convergence depends on the absolute value of the ratio between the two roots: the farther that ratio is from unity, the more quickly the continued fraction converges. When the monic quadratic equation with real coefficients is of the form x 2 = c, the general solution described above is useless because division by zero is not well ...
Solving an equation numerically means that only numbers are admitted as solutions. Solving an equation symbolically means that expressions can be used for representing the solutions. For example, the equation x + y = 2x – 1 is solved for the unknown x by the expression x = y + 1, because substituting y + 1 for x in the equation results in (y ...
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
A square root of a number x is a number r which, when squared, becomes x: =. Every positive real number has two square roots, one positive and one negative. For example, the two square roots of 25 are 5 and −5. The positive square root is also known as the principal square root, and is denoted with a radical sign: