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Figure 1. Plots of quadratic function y = ax 2 + bx + c, varying each coefficient separately while the other coefficients are fixed (at values a = 1, b = 0, c = 0). A quadratic equation whose coefficients are real numbers can have either zero, one, or two distinct real-valued solutions, also called roots.
Therefore, the solution = is extraneous and not valid, and the original equation has no solution. For this specific example, it could be recognized that (for the value x = − 2 {\displaystyle x=-2} ), the operation of multiplying by ( x − 2 ) ( x + 2 ) {\displaystyle (x-2)(x+2)} would be a multiplication by zero.
A similar but more complicated method works for cubic equations, which have three resolvents and a quadratic equation (the "resolving polynomial") relating and , which one can solve by the quadratic equation, and similarly for a quartic equation (degree 4), whose resolving polynomial is a cubic, which can in turn be solved. [14]
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 fact that every polynomial equation of positive degree has solutions, possibly non-real, was asserted during the 17th century, but completely proved only at the beginning of the 19th century. This is the fundamental theorem of algebra , which does not provide any tool for computing exactly the solutions, although Newton's method allows ...
The quadratic equation on a number can be solved using the well-known quadratic formula, which can be derived by completing the square. That formula always gives the roots of the quadratic equation, but the solutions are expressed in a form that often involves a quadratic irrational number, which is an algebraic fraction that can be evaluated ...
The graph of a real single-variable quadratic function is a parabola. If a quadratic function is equated with zero, then the result is a quadratic equation. The solutions of a quadratic equation are the zeros (or roots) of the corresponding quadratic function, of which there can be two, one, or zero. The solutions are described by the quadratic ...
However, if one searches for real solutions, there are two solutions, √ 2 and – √ 2; in other words, the solution set is {√ 2, − √ 2}. When an equation contains several unknowns, and when one has several equations with more unknowns than equations, the solution set is often infinite. In this case, the solutions cannot be listed.