Solve the quadratic equation 2(x^2) + 3x + 1 = 0

There are two ways to solve this equation. In the first method, we can simplify the quadratic by observation into two linear equations multiplied together, giving us (2x + 1)(x + 1) = 0. We can then set each of these linear equations equal to 0, and solve to get x = -0.5 and x = -1. However, as this method requires simplification by observation, I believe an easier method is to use the quadratic formula x = (-b +/- sqr(b^2 - 4ac))/2a as this just requires the input of numbers. In this situation; a = 2, b = 3 and c = 1. This gives us the equation x = (-3 +/- sqr(9 - 8))/4 which simplifies to x = -0.5 or x = -1.

JC
Answered by Joe C. Maths tutor

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