How do you find all the real and complex roots of r²-14r+49=0?

1 Answer
Jan 22, 2016

r=7

Explanation:

This is a perfect square trinomial—it is equal to

(r-7)^2=0

This can be verified by redistributing (r-7)^2:

(r-7)(r-7)=r^2-7r-7r+49=r^2-14r+49

Back to solving the equation.

(r-7)^2=0

Now, we can take the square root of both sides.

r-7=0

r=7

This is the only answer. Even though quadratics typically have two answers, this has a root of 7 with a multiplicity of 2, which means that both its roots are 7.