How do you solve a quadratic equation?

For example x² - 2x - 35 = 0You would have two approaches to this question. You can either use the quadratic formula or you could simplify the expression. Using the formula you would have x = (2+or- (4-4x1x-35)^1/2)/(2x1), giving you x = 7 and x = -5. Similarly you could simplify the expression. The product of the two roots should equal -35 and their sum should equal -2. We can then write x²-2x-35 as (x+5)(x-7), so that we get the answer x =7 and x=-5.