Why do you factor a quadratic equation before you solve?

1 Answer
Mar 24, 2018

There are two ways to solve a quadratic equation: one way is to factor it and another way is to apply the quadratic formula ((-b+-sqrt(b^2-4ac))/(2a)b±b24ac2a). Factoring the equation into the form of (x+a)(x+b)(x+a)(x+b) where a and b are constants gives the two roots of the equation to be aa and bb. However, when the solution to a quadratic equation is not a rational number (that is, it can not be factored), the quadratic formula is the only way to solve it.