Faculty of Computing,

Engineering and the Built

Environment

Data Analysis UG1

Quadratic Equations
Quadratic functions are functions which contain a squared term but no higher powers.

y = ax 2 + bx + c is the standard form for a quadratic equation

where a, b and c can be any number (except that a cannot be zero because if a = 0 then
the equation is not a quadratic, it is linear).

The most common quadratic y = x 2 is shown below in figure 1.1 and the graph of y = x 2 is
shown in figure 1.2

y y

Figure 1.1 Figure 1.2

There are a number of features about quadratic functions that are worth remembering:

They describe a curve known as a parabola

They form a mirror image about a straight line, e.g. with y = x 2 this line is the y axis
All can be derived from the graph of y = x 2 by various stretches and translations
All quadratics with a positive co-efficient of x 2 will have a minimum value like the one in
figure 1.1
All quadratics with a negative co-efficient of x 2 will have a maximum value like the one in
figure 1.2
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If we take the values of the quadratic when it crosses the x axis (i.e. the value(s) of x at y = 0)
we are solving the quadratic equation x 2 + bx + c = 0.

It is very common to need to solve quadratic equations.

Example 1.1 Graphical Method

To solve the equation x 2 + 3x 4 = 0 we plot the graph of y = x 2 + 3x 4 and find where the
curve crosses the x axis, as the following example shows.
First we must calculate y for various values of x.
This might be best done in table form.

x= 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5
x2 36 25 16 9 4 1 0 1 4 9 16 25
3x 18 15 12 9 6 3 0 3 6 9 12 15
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
y= 14 6 0 4 6 6 4 0 6 14 24 36

If we now plot these points on suitable axes, we get the following graph, and we see that x =
4 and 1

4 1

The two values of x ( 4 and 1) are the only two values that will satisfy the equation x 2 + 3x
4 = 0.

When x = 4 x 2 + 3x 4 = ( 4) 2 + 3( 4) 4 = 16 12 4 = 0 as required and

When x = 1 x 2 + 3x 4 = (1) 2 + 3(1) 4=1+3 4 = 0 as required.

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Example 1.2 Factorisation Method

The quadratic equation x 2 + 6x + 8 = 0 can be rewritten in brackets thus:

(x + 2)(x + 4) = 0

As a check, we can expand the brackets and check that we get back to
x 2 + 6x + 8

4x

x2

(x + 2 ) ( x + 4)=0

2x

As you can see the 2 4 gives us the 8 and the 2x + 4x gives us the 6x

So if we look at the question again, (x 2 + 6x + 8 = 0), if we want to factorise it into brackets of

the form (x + a)(x + b), we are looking for two numbers that multiply together to give the 8 and
that add together to give the 6, (this is obviously 2 and 4 as we have shown above).

To solve the equation we then proceed as follows

If (x + 2)(x + 4) = 0 then one of the brackets must be 0

If x + 2 = 0 then x = 2 and

If x + 4 = 0 then x = 4

So our two answers are 2 and 4

As a check we could substitute these into the original equation to show that they balance:

When x = 2

x 2 + 6x + 8 = ( 2) 2 + 6( 2) + 8 = 4 12 + 8 = 0 as required

When x = 4

x 2 + 6x + 8 = ( 4) 2 + 6( 4) + 8 = 16 24 + 8 = 0 as required

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Quadratic Problems

1) Solve the following quadratic equations graphically, plotting a graph between x = 4 and x
=5

a) y = x2 2x 7 b) y = x2 2x + 1 c) y = x2 + 2x + 7

2) Solve the following by factorisation:

a) x2 + 7x + 10 = 0

b) x2 + 6x + 8 = 0

c) x2 + 7x + 12 = 0

d) x2 + 9x + 20 = 0

e) x2 + 3x 10 = 0

f) x2 + 2x 8=0

g) x2 2x 15 = 0

3) In each of the following cases, multiply out the brackets to form a quadratic equation and
sketch the corresponding curve:

a) ( x 1)(x 3) 0

b) ( x 1)(x 3) 0

c) ( x 1)(3 x) 0

d) (2 x 1)(x 3) 0

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Answers to Quadratic Problems
1)
a) 3. 8 , 1. 8 b) 1 c) 3.8 , 1. 8

2)

a) 2, 5 b) 2, 4 c) 3, 4 d) 4, 5

e) 2 , 5 f) 2 , 4 g) 3,5

3)
a) x 2 4x 3 0

b) x 2 2x 3 0

c) x2 4x 3 0

d) 2 x 2 7x 3 0

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