Expert Mathmatician
The Three Formulas
The three formulas used in this chapter will be:
-
Discriminant
-
Quadratic Formula
and
-
Completing the square
Discriminant:
Finding the discriminant allows you to find out how many X-intercept you will have. the equation to find the discriminant is
y=b^2-4ac. If you have an answer that is less than 0, that means that there will be no x-intercepts, if your answer is greater than 0, that means that you will have two x-intercepts, and if you answer is 0, you will have only one x-intercept. Finding the discriminant is a helpful equatuation because it givese you information on how many x-intercepts you will have. This equation can only be used when you have the Standard Form of a Parabola.
Quadratic Formula:
The Quadratic Formula is a way for you to get the actual X-intercepts. The Quadratic formula is similar to factoring by DECOMP in the sense that both ways will give you the X-intercept. The equation to do this is:
I have made a video that will cover the Discriminant and Quadratic formula
Here is a button that will direct you to a video that can help you further understand the Quadratic formula if you haven't understood it completly
Maxima And Minima:
Completing the square is a formula that allows you to convert a Standard form equation into Vertex form. there is no correct equation to convert Standard form to Vertex form. Instead you will need to follow a sequence of steps. The slide show below will show you how to complete the square. If a is negative it will give you the maximum value. Also, if a is positive then it will give you the minumm value.
