Why do you factor quadratic equations?
2 Answers
Because it tells you what the roots of the equation are, i.e. where
Explanation:
Because it tells you what the roots of the equation are, i.e. where
Think of it backwards - start by knowing that the quantity
This is a factored quadratic equation.
Multiply out to get the unfactored equation:
So when you are presented with a quadratic equation, you know that the coefficient of the
Now we want two numbers that add to +11 and multiply to 30; the answers are 5 and 6, we see after trying a few, so it factors as
By factorising first and then applying the multiplication property of zero, we can solve a quadratic equation.
Explanation:
One of the properties of
"Anything multiplied by
So, if we have an equation where:
then because of the multiplication property of
Since we can't know which one is the
However, this is only true for FACTORS.
So to apply this concept in solving a quadratic (or cubic, quartic, etc) equation, start by factorising to find the factors.
Then let each factor be equal to
Let each be equal to
If
If
By factorising first and then applying the multiplication property of zero, we can solve the quadratic equation.