AllieChazen

Mathematics
Ms.CarleeHollenbeck
23November2015
CalculiciousCapstone
ThetopicIcompletedresearchisonQuadraticEquationsandFormulas.Quadratic
formulasaremadefromquadraticequations.Forexample,inordertosolveaquadraticequation,
weneedaquadraticformula.Quadraticequationsareequationsthatcancreatecertainlinesona
graph,usuallyparabolas.Furthermore,unlikelinearequationsthatcreatestraightlines,quadratic
equationscreateparabolas,whicharecurvedlines.Youcanseeparabolasinwaysthataperson
wouldnotnormallythinkof.Onewayyoucanseeaparabolaintheworldaroundyouiswhena
tennisballisthrownupintheair.Whenthrowingaballupwards,itdoesnotalwaysgostraight
down,insteaditcurveswhenitisabouttogobackdown.Whenthecurvinghappensthatiswhen
youwouldnoticeaparabola.Thisisonequickexampleofapracticalapplicationofquadratic
equationsandformulas,andthroughmyresearchIfoundthattherearevariousmore.
Around400BC,theBabylonianshadtheideasandmathematicalinformationtogetto
knowingwhataquadraticequationconsistsof.Thegroupdidnotreallyhaveanunderstanding
ofwhatanequationwasinordertocreateaquadraticequation.However,whattheydidhave
wascertainalgorithmicapproachestosolvingproblemsthateventuallyleduptoaquadratic
equation.TheirapproachtosolvingproblemswerethestepsforCompletingaSquare.The
solutionstotheirmathematicalproblemswerealwayspositivebecausetheanswerwasusuallya
length.Theyhadnotfoundhowtogetanegativenumberyet.Around300BC,Euclid,aGreek

mathematicianusuallyreferredtoastheFatherofGeometry,createdageometricalapproach
tounderstandingthemaththatalreadyexisted.Later,Euclidfoundanequationusedwithroots.
Around590670AD,themathematicianBrahmaguptaandotherHinduspushedthematheven
further.Theybroughtinnegativenumbersandmathabbreviationsforunknownvariablesina
problem.Brahmaguptawasthefirsttosolvequadraticequationswithnegativeandpositive
symbols.Around800AD,amannamedAlKhwarizmicreatedsixstepstodifferenttypesof
equationsthatdidnotincludenegativesorzeros.Thesixstepshecreatedbecameknownas
CompletingtheSquare.TheQuadraticequationwasthenestablishedinthe12thcenturyby
AbrahambarHiyyaHanasiinEurope.AbrahambarHiyyaHanasisfindingswerepublishedina
bookin1145withwaysoncompletingthequadraticequation.
DuringmytimeresearchingthistopicIhavelearnedmanymathtermssuchasroots,
quadraticequations,coefficients,parabolas,polynomial,completingthesquare,and
quadraticformula.Eachtermconnectstoanothertermbuthavedifferentandimportant
meanings.Ifoundoutthatarootisanumberthatcanbemultipliedbyitself.Avariableisjusta
letterthatcanrepresentanynumericalvalueintheequation.Forexample,thevariablexis
calledeitherasolutionorarootiftheequationequalszero.Youcanseethattherootsareexactly
thexinterceptsofthequadraticequation.Thatisbecauseoftheintersectionbetweenthegraph
ofthequadraticequationwiththexaxis.Next,Ifoundoutthatparabolasareacurvedline,
whichareproducedbyquadraticequations.Thisisbecauseofthe "x2". Theformofaquadratic
is,"
y
=
ax2

+
bx
+
c
".Whengraphing,theleadingcoefficient"
a
"willdeterminehownarrowor
widetheparabolawillturnout.For|
a
|>1(suchas
a
=2or
a
=4),theparabolawillbe
1
1
narrow,becauseitgrowsfaster(2Xor4Xasfast).For|
a
|<1(suchas
a
=
/
or
a
=
/
),the
3
4

1
1
parabolawillbewide,becauseitgrowsslower(
/
Xor
/
Xasfast).Also,if
a
isnegative,
3
4

thentheparabolawillbeplacedupsidedown,andcanresembleafrown.Thenexttermis
CompletingtheSquare,thatiswhenyoutakeaquadraticequationandsolveitinordertofind
itsroots.AnotherwaytosolveaquadraticequationistousetheQuadraticFormula.The
quadraticformulawillalsofindtherootsofaquadraticequation.Belowisthequadraticformula
andasolutiontoaquadraticequation.
QuadraticFormula:

Detail:
""=PlusorMinus=2solutions,"b"=SquareALLof
"b","4ac"=Plugin#'sfor"a"and"c"thenmultiplethat#by"4",
"2a"=putinthe#for"a"thenmultiplyby"2".

GeneralFormofaQuadraticEquation:

Detail:
"ax"=Coefficientofxterm,"bx"=Coefficientofxterm,"c"
=Coefficientonthe"x"to"0"term.

StepstoSolvingaQuadraticEquationwiththeQuadraticFormula:

YouCanApplyQuadraticEquationsWhen:
Projectileproblem:
Havingaballbeshotupintheairfromtheedgeofthehouse,thatis40feet
abovethegroundwithainitialvelocityof10feetpersecond.Tryingtofindhowlongittakes
fortheballtohittheground.
Calculatingtheareaofsomething:
Buildingarectangularbox.Ifyouwanttofindasidethatis
doublethelengthoftheotherside.
Figuringoutaprofit:
Knowinghowmuchsuppliestousetomaketheprofit.
Findingaspeed:
Estimatetheirspeedwhengoingupanddownahill.
IthinkthatalloftheseapplicationscanbesolvedorsupportedbyusingtheQuadratic
Equation.OneexampleofanQuadraticEquationusewouldbeforsolvinghowlongitwilltake
aballtohittheground.
Problem:
Aballisshotupintotheairfromtheedgeofahouse,40feetabovetheground.Itsinitial
velocityis10feetpersecond.Howlongdoesittakefortheballto
hittheground
?
Equation:
h = 12t2 + 10t + 40
1) Icanfigurethisoutsimplyby,firstorganizingwhattheproblemalreadygives
me,andwhattheproblemisaskingfor.
2) Figureoutwhateverythingmeans:
a) h (
Hittheground
)=0
b) t =Time
c) Figureatwhichtimeseverythinghitsat0.
Answer: 0 = 12t2 + 10t + 40
5)Simplify(Makesmaller)
a. Everythingisdivisible( ) by2
Answer: 0 = 6t2 + 5t + 20

6)UseQuadraticformula
Completethesquare:
i. Figureoutwhat a, b, andc arefromwhatIhavesofarwithAnswer
a = 6t2 b = 5t c = 20

ii.

iii. FindwhattheQuadraticformulatellsme
1.

Lookattheroots( t)
a. t = b

b 4(a)(c) 2(a)
2

2.

PlugintheinformationIhavetotheequation
b. t = 5

3.

5 4( 6)(20) 2(6)
2

Solve
c. t = 5 25 + 480 12
d. t = 5 505 12

t = 5 22 12

17
t = 12

t = 27
12 t =

9
4

t = 94

7)GettheanswerthatsONLYpositive
a. t = 94 =Seconds

IfeellikeIexplainedwhatQuadraticEquationandFormulaisprettygood.IthinkthatI
explainedeverystepclearlyandtypedeverystepclearlyaswell.Iexplainedthistopicwell
becauseIorganizedwhatiswhatintheproblem,Iclearlystatedhowtogettheanswerfromthe
mathIpresentedtoo.Ifoundthereweresomanystepstotakewiththisproblem,thatyoureally
hadtoconcentrateonwhatyou'redoing.Itriedtoorganizethispaperinawaytoexplain
everythingbutinaeasierandmorelegibleway.