Question

How do you find the roots, real and imaginary, of `y=x^2 + 3x + 1` using the quadratic formula?

Answer 1

Substitute the coefficients into the formula and evaluate. There are no imaginary roots

Explanation:

`y= (-b +- sqrt(b^2 - 4ac))/(2a)` is the quadratic formula
In this example `a = 1`, `b = 3` and `c=1`
`y = (-3 +- sqrt(9 -4))/2`
`y = (-3-sqrt(5))/2` or `y = -(-3+sqrt(5))/2`