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How do you find the number of solutions using the discriminant?

1 Answer

Apr 21, 2018

The quadratic formula states:

For $a x^{2} + b x + c = 0$ $ax^2 + bx + c = 0$ , the values of $x$ $x$ which are the solutions to the equation are given by:

$x = \frac{- b \pm \sqrt{b^{2} - 4 a c}}{2 a}$ $x = (-b +- sqrt(b^2 - 4ac))/(2a)$

The discriminate is the portion of the quadratic equation within the radical: $b^{2} - 4 a c$ $color(blue)(b)^2 - 4color(red)(a)color(green)(c)$

If the discriminate is:
- Positive, you will get two real solutions
- Zero you get just ONE solution
- Negative you get complex solutions

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