Question

How do you find the zeros of `y = x^2 + 5x + 3` using the quadratic formula?

Answer 1

`(-5+-sqrt(13))/2`

Explanation:

For the general quadratic equation `ax^2+bx+c`, the quadratic formula states that `x=(-b+-sqrt(b^2-4ac))/(2a`.

In your quadratic, `a=1`, `b=5`, and `c=3`.

We can plug in values.

`x=(-5+-sqrt(5^2-4(1)(3)))/(2(1))=(-5+-sqrt(13))/2`