Showing posts with label equations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label equations. Show all posts

Friday, April 3, 2009

Quadratic Equation

A quadratic equation is described as an equation where the highest exponent is 2.
The graph of a quadratic is a smooth curve known as a parabola.

All of the following are quadratic equations.
x2 + 4 = 0

x2 + 4x + 3 = 0

3x2 + 34x + 7 = 50

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Equations of the null and the infinite

Sometimes an equation will resolve to eliminate all its variables, this creates two results

1.Consider

5x + 25 = 5(x-50)

5x + 25 = 5x - 50

we subtract 5x from both sides and get

25=-50 or 0=75

In this case we know the equation doesn't make sense, since 0 is NOT equal to 75. When this happens we say the equation resolves to the empty set and that there is no solution.

2. Consider

5x + 25 = 5(x+5)

5x + 25 = 5x+ 25

we subtract 5x from both sides again

25=25 or 1=1

This solution is called the identity because the left side is exactly equal to the right side. You can substitute any number for x and arrive at the same answer, thus there are an infinite number of solutions. We can say that this equation resolves to the set of all reals, often notated as R.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Equations

Equations are statements that express equalities, typically using an = sign.

Such as
5=5
2+3 = 5
1+1+1+1+1=5

and so on.

Equations are useful because they can allow us to solve for missing variables in any real event we want to model

2x + 1 = 5

2x = 4

x=2