Chapter 2 Quadratic Equations

The pictures show a ball being thrown into the air and a skateboarding ramp. Do you
find similarities in the paths? The two paths are examples of quadratic functions.

Quadratic functions may be used to describe the trajectories of water from a fountain,
incorporated into structures like the parabolic reflectors that form the base of satellite
dishes. They may also be used in forecast business profit and loss, determine the
maximum and minimum performances, etc. The sports car designer also applies the
quadratic function in his design!

2.1 Quadratic Equation

A quadratic equation is an equation of the form
ax 2  bx  c  0 where a, b and c are real numbers and a  0 .

The highest power for the variable x is 2.

While b and c may be 0, a cannot be 0.

For example, 3 x 2  2 x  1 , where a = 3, b = 2 and c = 1.

We will learn how to solve quadratic equations by

i. Completing the square
ii. using the Quadratic formula
iii. using Graphical method

Apr 2020 Semester Chapter 2 | Page 34

2.2 Completing the Square
If one side of a quadratic equation is a perfect square,
for example, x  3  5
2

Taking square root of each side,

x3  5
x  3  5
Note:
By rearranging a quadratic equation with a perfect square on one side and a number
on the other side, the solution can be found by taking the square root of each side of
the equation.

Example 1

Solve 2 x 2  20 x  6  0 by completing the square. Give your answers correct to two

decimal places.
Solution:
 Make the coefficient of x 2 equal to 1 by dividing all the terms by a
2 x 2  20 x  6  0
x 2  10 x  3  0

 Rewrite the equation such that the x 2 and x terms are on the LHS and the constant
term is on the RHS
x 2  10 x  3

2 2
 coefficient of x   10 
 Make the LHS a perfect square by adding   , i.e.   
 2   2
2 2
 10   10 
x  10 x          3
2

 2  2
x  10 x  (5)2  (5) 2  3
2

x 2  10 x  (5) 2  3  ( 5) 2
( x  5) 2  22
 Take the square root of both sides of the equation
x  5   22
x  5  22
Therefore,
x  5  22 x  5  22
or
x  9.69 (to 3 s.f) x  0.310 (to 3 s.f)

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Example 2
Solve x 2  9 x  5  0 by completing the square. Give your answers correct to three
significant figures.
Solution:

Answers: − 8.41, − 0.595

2.3 Quadratic Formula

The quadratic formula can be used to solve the general quadratic equation
ax 2  bx  c  0 where a  0 . The quadratic formula is derived by completing the
square of the general quadratic equation:

ax 2  bx  c  0

Make the coefficient of x 2 equal to 1 by dividing all the terms by a

b c
x2  x   0
a a

Rewrite the equation such that the x 2 and x terms are on the LHS and the constant
term is on the RHS
b c
x2  x  
a a
2
 coefficient of x 
Make the LHS a perfect square by adding   to both sides of the
 2 
2
 b 
equation, i.e.  
 2a 

2 2
b  b  c  b 
x2  x     
a  2a  a  2a 

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Write the LHS of the equation as a perfect square and simplify the RHS of the equation
to a single fraction

2
 b  c b2
x     2
 2a  a 4a
b 2  4ac

4a 2

Take the square root of both sides of the equation

b b 2  4ac
x 
2a 4a 2
b 2  4ac

2a
Solve for x to obtain the two roots of the quadratic equation:

 b  b 2  4ac
x
2a
Note:
Unless otherwise specified, all non-exact answers should be rounded to three
significant figures (3 s.f).

Example 3

Use the quadratic formula to solve: 3 x 2  7 x  8  0

Solution:

Compare 3 x 2  7 x  8  0 with ax 2  bx  c  0 :
a = 3, b = 7 and c = −8

 b  b 2  4ac
x
2a
 7  7 2  43 8

23
 7  49  96

6
 7  145

6

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Therefore,
7  145 7  145
x or
x
6 6
 0.840  3.17

Note:
The solutions of the equation 3 x 2  7 x  8  0 are 0.840 and -3.17.
0.840 and -3.17 are also called the roots of the equation.

Example 4
Use the quadratic formula to solve the following equations if possible.
a. x 2  6 x  9  0 b. x 2  4 x  5  0

Solution:

Answers: a. 3, 3

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From Examples 3 and 4, fill in the table below:

Equation Solutions (or roots) Value of Graph

of the equation b 2  4 ac

3x 2  7 x  8  0

x2  6 x  9  0

x 2  4x  5  0

It can be observed that,

 If b 2  4 ac  0 , the quadratic equation has two real and distinct roots.
 If b 2  4 ac  0 , the quadratic equation has two real and equal roots.
 If b 2  4 ac  0 , the quadratics equation has no real roots.

The expression b 2  4 ac is called the discriminant and it can be used to determine

the nature of the two roots of a quadratic equation.

2.4 Graphical Method

The roots of the quadratic equation ax 2  bx  c  0 may also be obtained from the
graphs of y  ax 2  bx  c and y  0 (i.e. the x-axis).
The coordinates of the intersection points of the two graphs satisfy both equations.
The x-coordinates of the intersection points are the solutions (or roots) of the
quadratic equation ax 2  bx  c  0 .

We have learnt that a quadratic equation can have

a. two real and distinct roots, or
b. two real and equal roots, or
c. no real roots.

The number of intersection points correspond to the number of roots of the quadratic
equation. The nature of the roots are as follows:

 When there are two intersection points, the two roots are real and distinct;
 When there is one intersection point, the two roots are real and equal;
 When there are no intersection points, there are no real roots.

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Example 5

The quadratic equation y  x 2  2 x  4 has a list of values tabulated below:

x −4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2
y 12 7 4 3 4 7 12
a. Draw the graph of y  x  2 x  4 for  4  x  2 .
2

b. Use your graph to solve:

i. x 2  2 x  4  7 ii. x 2  2 x  4  3 iii. x 2  2 x  4  0

Solution:
a. Graph of y  x 2  2 x  4 for  4  x  2

b.i. To solve x 2  2 x  4  7 , draw the line y  7 on the same axes of the graph of
y  x 2  2x  4 .
The solutions can be obtained from the x-coordinates of the intersection
points.
Since there are two intersection points, the equation has two real and distinct
roots. The roots of x 2  2 x  4  7 are x  3 and x  1 .

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ii. To solve x 2  2 x  4  3 , draw the line y  3 on the same axes of the graph of
y  x 2  2x  4 .
Since there is only one intersection point, the equation has two real and equal
roots. The roots of x 2  2 x  4  3 are x  1 (repeated).

iii. To solve x 2  2 x  4  0 , look for the points where the graph y  x 2  2 x  4

cuts the line y  0 (i.e. x-axis). Do you see any?
Since there are no intersection points, the equation x 2  2 x  4  0 has no real
roots.

Example 6

a. Plot the graph of y  x 2  x  5 for  4  x  3 on a piece of graph paper.

b. Using the same graph, estimate to one decimal place, the solutions of the
following equations:
i. x2  x  2  0
ii. x2  x  6  0
iii.
3

1 2

x  x  5  2. 5

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 Answers: b.i. -2, 1 ii. -2, 3 iii. -4.1, 3.1

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Example 7
A man stands on the edge of a hill and hurls a stone. The path of the stone is described
by the equation y  70  3x  x 2 where x (metres) is the horizontal distance from the
edge of the hill and y (metres) is the height of the stone above the ground.

a. Plot the graph of y  70  3x  x 2 for 0  x  10 on a piece of graph paper.

b. Use the graph to find the positive root of the equation 70  3 x  x 2  0 .

Explain briefly what the solution means.

c. Use the graph to find the horizontal distance when the stone is 60 m above
ground for the first time.

Answers: b. 10 c. 5

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2.5 Graph of Quadratic Functions
Given a, b and c are real numbers and a  0 ,
ax 2  bx  c  0 is known as a quadratic equation,
y  ax 2  bx  c is called a quadratic function.

Observations from Examples 5, 6 and 7

Quadratic Coefficient of x2 Sketch of graph Line of symmetry
function [ value of a ] b
x= 
2a

y  x 2  2x  4 a=

y  x2  x  5 a=

y  70  3x  x 2 a=

For a quadratic function

y  ax 2  bx  c
if a > 0, if a < 0,

 the graph of the quadratic function  the graph is as shown below

is as shown below (smiling face). (sad face).

 minimum point and line of  maximum point and line of

symmetry occur when symmetry occur when
b b
x=  x= 
2a 2a

Using the facts above, can you sketch the graph of y  3 x 2  6 x  5 and label its
minimum or maximum point.

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2.6 Fractional Equations
A fractional equation is one that contains an unknown in the denominator of one or
4 3
more terms, for example,   8.
x x 1

A fractional equation can be solved as follows:

 Multiply both sides of the fractional equation by the lowest common multiple
(LCM) of the denominators
 Solve the resulting equation
 Check the feasibility of the answers

Example 8
2
Solve the equation  x6
x3

Solution:
Multiply both sides by x  3

 2 
 ( x  3)  x  6 x  3
 x  3
 2  x 2  9 x  18
x 2  9 x  20  0
( x  4)( x  5)  0 [By factorization]

Therefore,
( x  4)  0 ( x  5)  0
or
x  4 x  5

Example 9
 18
Solve the equation: x  7 
x4
Solution:

Answers: −5, 2

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Example 10
3 1
Solve the equation:  7
x  2 x 1
Solution:

Answer: –0.876, 2.45

Example 11
2 1
Solve the equation:  2
x3 x5
Solution:

Answer: 3.72, 5.78

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Example 12
A man swims up and down a stream. He covers 40 m for each lap. When he swims
with the current, he would complete his lap 15 seconds earlier than if he were to swim
against the current. The man swims at a speed of 2 m/s and the speed of the current
is v m/s. Show that 15v 2 80v  60  0 , and hence find v.
Solution:

Answer: 0.667 m/s

Example 13
A vendor sets the selling price of a certain product as p  80  2 x , where p is the selling
price and x is the quantity demanded.

(a) Express the revenue y (total amount of money earned) in terms of x.

(b) Sketch the quadratic function in (a). Identify the maximum revenue, the
corresponding quantity sold and the selling price.
Solution:

Answers: b. 800, 20, 40

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Tutorial 2 Quadratic Equations

1. Solve the following quadratic equations by completing the square:

a. x 2  3x  5  0
b. 2 x 2  5 x  2  0
c.  3x 2  x  7  0

2. Solve the following quadratic equations by the quadratic formula:

a. 8 x  x 2  2  0 b.  2 x  5 x 2  11  0

3. Plot the graph of y   1 2

2

x  6 x for  3  x  9 on a graph paper.
Using the same graph, estimate to one decimal place, the solutions of the
following equations:
a.
1 2
2
 
x  6x  6 b. x 2  6x  4  4

2 2 1 2 2x
c.
3
 x  6 x  6   4 d.
2
 x  6x  4 
3

4. Solve the following fractional equations:

4 3 2 5q
a.  2 b. 
p p 1 q 1 3  q

5. The graph of y  x 2  6x  6 cuts the x-axis at two points, A and B. Determine the
x-coordinates of A and B by the ‘completing the square’ method.

6. The curve y  8  3x  2 x 2 intersects the line y  4 at points P and Q.

a. Write an equation that has the x-coordinates of P and Q as its solutions.
b. Using the ‘completing the square’ method, solve the equation in (a).

7. Solve the equation 2 p 2  5 p  2  0 . Hence determine the values of m that

satisfy the equation 2m  1  5m  1  2  0 .
2

3 2m
8. Express  2 as a single fraction in its simplest form.
m2 m 4
3 2m 1
Hence, solve  2 
m2 m 4 6

Apr 2020 Semester Chapter 2 | Page 48

9. Daniel recently bought a car and wanted to determine its fuel consumption rate,
x (km/l). He obtained the following information from the test drive:

 When he attaches a fuel-efficient device to the car, the fuel efficiency

increases by 3 km for every litre of petrol.
 For a 90-km journey, attaching the device would save him one litre of petrol.

Determine the actual fuel consumption of the car.

10. A lorry takes 2 h 40 min more than a car to cover 800 km. If the car is 30 km/h
faster than the lorry, find the speed of the car, correct to the nearest km/h.

11. A ball was catapulted from the ground. Its path is described by the equation
h  30t  5t 2 , where h is the height of the ball (in metres) above the ground after
t seconds.

a. Find the time taken for the ball to reach a height of 20 m.

b. Find the value of h at which there is only one solution to the equation
above.

12. The organizers of a party cordoned off a rectangular area ABCD. They used a
160-m rope to form the sides AB, BC and CD.

a. Given that AB = x m, write an expression for the length of BC in terms of x.

b. Given that the area of ABCD is 3000 m2, form an equation and show that
it reduces to x 2  80 x  1500  0 .
c. Solve the equation and state the possible lengths of BC.

Apr 2020 Semester Chapter 2 | Page 49