Solve #x^4-2x^3+4x^2+6x-21=0#?
1 Answer
The roots are
Explanation:
Quartic equations are quite difficult to solve. There is a general solution to the quartic, but it is very complex.
Fortunately this equation can be solved quite easily.
We want to solve
Assume that we can factorise the equation into the product of two quadratics.
Multiply the two quadratics.
Comparing terms gives.
We have
Now
Verify with the last term
So the equation factorises to.
Factorise each term to give the roots.