Question

A number less its reciprocal is 8/3. What is the number?

Answer 1

I got two values:
`x_1=3`
`x_2=-1/3`

Explanation:

Let us call our number `x`. We get:
`x-1/x=8/3`
rearranging:
`3x^2-3=8x`
`3x^2-8x-3=0`
use the Quadratic Formula:
`x_(1,2)=(8+-sqrt(64+36))/6=(8+-10)/6`
we get two values:
`x_1=3`
`x_2=-1/3`