What is the Quadratic Formula?

The quadratic formula is a way to find the zeros if it is not reasonable

to factor it from standard form. It uses number from the standard form
y=a x 2 +bx +c . In the quadratic formula mathematicians isolated the x

b b24 ac
from the standard form to form the equation x= or, the
2a

quadratic equation.

What is the Quadratic Formula used for?

The Quadratic formula is used for a lot things we see everyday, like
bridges and other structures, physics, and many other objects.

The parts of the quadratic formula

The three different parts of the quadratic formula are a , b , and

c . If we have the equation y=4 x 2+ 9 x +3 , a=4, b=9 , and c=3 . You

1 | Page
would but these number in for there letters in the quadratic formula, so it
9 924 ( 4 ) (3 )
would look like this x= .
2(4 )

Appling it to real life scenarios

A tank is drop out of a plane over Bagdad, Iraqi and the equation for
the drop is y=x2+100x-122, how far from Bagdad in kilometres will the tank
land? The answer is positive. We will use the quadratic formula to solve this
problem. We know that a=1,b=100 , and c=(122 ) . Now substitute the
numbers in for their letters and work out the equation.

b b24 ac 100 1002 4 ( 1 ) (122 ) 100 10000+ 488

x= x= x=
2a 2a 2

100 10488 100 102.4

x= x= x=1.2,101.2
2 2

Therefore the tank landed 1.2 km outside of Bagdad.

Find the mistake

In this exercise the problem is worked out you just need to find the mistakes
that were made.

A plane enters a dive during a training exercise and the dive is modeled by
2
the equation y=2 x + 9 x 50 , find the zero of the dive. So we know that

a=2,b=9 , and c=50

2 | Page
 9 92 4 ( 2 ) (50 ) 9 18+ 400 9 18+ 400 9 418
x= x= x= x=
2 ( 2) 2 2 2

9 20.5
x= x=14.75,5.75
2

Answer key

9 92 4 ( 2 ) (50 )
x= the 9 needs to be negative
2 ( 2)

9 18+ 400
x= the square of 9 is 81, not 18
2

9 18+ 400
x=
2

9 418
x= the 2 is 2 times 2, so it should be 4
2

9 20.5
x=
2

x=14.75,5.75

3 | Page