The roots of a quadratic equations are the values for . We use and to denote these.

If the
coefficients , , and are real, then and are either real numbers or complex conjugates
1
.

We never calculate the values of or . We only ever work with their sum and product.

The sum of the roots ( +) =

, and the product of the roots () =

.

To make a quadratic equation, use
2
+ = 0.



2
+
2
= ( +)
2
2

2
.
2
= ()
2


3
+
3
= ( +)
3
3( +)

3
.
3
= ()
3


1

+
1

=
+

=
1

Sometimes, a question may ask you to form a quadratic equation with different roots, for example
1

and
1

. In this case, you should apply this method:

1. Write down the sum and product of the original roots.
2. Find the sum and product of the new roots in terms of + and .
3. Sub in your original sum and product to find the sum and product for the new equation.
4. Use
2
+ = 0 to write your new equation.

Important: Exam questions often ask for integer coefficients. You will not get the marks if you
give fractional coefficients.

The roots of the quadratic equation 3
2
+4 1 = 0 are and .
Determine a quadratic equation with integer coefficients which has roots
3
and
3


+ =
4
3
=
1
3

Sum of new roots

3
+
3
= (
2
+
2
) =
1
3
. (( +)
2
2) =
1
3
. (
16
9
+
2
3
) =
22
27

Product of new roots

3
.
3
=
4

4
= ()
4
=
1
81

Form the new equation

2
+
22
27
+
1
81
= 0
Rewrite with integer coefficients
81
2
+66 +1 = 0

1
See page Complex Numbers
The square root of 1 is not real (See Above). Because it is imaginary, it is denoted by , where

2
= 1. Just as every positive number has two square roots, 1 can be or .
When you square 3, you get: (3)
2
= 3
2
+
2
= 9 1 = 9

Since
2
= 1, it follows that
4
= 1. The powers of form a cycle (4) of the form , 1, , 1, ,
so that
5
= ,
6
= 1, etc.
In other words, to calculate any power of , you convert it to a lower power by taking the closest
multiple of 4 thats no bigger than the exponent. For example, a common trick question on the
exam is something along the lines of "Simplify
99
", the idea being that you'll try to multiply 99
times and you'll run out of time, and the examiners can laugh at you. Here's how you should do it:

99
=
96+3
=
(424)+3
=
3
=

A complex number is a number of the form +, where
and are real numbers and
2
= 1. If = +, where and
are real numbers, the real part of is , and the imaginary part
of is .
Complex numbers are added and subtracted in two parts. First,
you add/subtract the real parts, then the imaginary parts. For
example, (2 +3) +(5 2) = (2 +5) +(3 2) = 7 +.

Multiplication is performed like youd perform it on ( 2)( +
4). For example, (2 3)(6 +2) = 12 +4 18 6
2
=
12 14 +6 = 18 14.

Consider the equation
2
+ + = 0 where , and are real numbers. If the equation has
complex roots, then the two roots are always conjugates of each other.
Note: If a quadratic equation has any complex coefficients then this result doesnt apply.

2
+ + = 0 will not have real roots when
2
4 < 0.

If two complex numbers are equal, their real parts are equal and their imaginary parts are equal.
Because of this, we can solve equations using complex numbers as in the example below.

= +
Find and when 5 2

= 3 14.

Let = + and so

= .
5( +) 2( ) = 3 14
3 +7 = 3 14
Equating real: 3 = 3 = 1
Equating imaginary: 7 = 14 = 2
The type of number we normally use, such as 1, 15.82, -0.1, 3/4, etc
Positive or negative, large or small, whole numbers or decimal numbers are all Real Numbers.
The two complex numbers 3 +
5 and 3 5 are said to be
complex conjugates. They
are known as a conjugate pair.

The conjugate of is denoted
by

. Hence, if = 7 +2,
then

= 7 2, and if =
3 4,

= 3 +4.

A matrix is a store of numbers in the form of a rectangular array. Matrices are labelled with BOLD CAPITAL
LETTERS. For example, and .
Each entry in a matrix is an element.
A matrix with rows and columns is an matrix. This is called the order of the matrix.
We can add or subtract matrices provided they have the same order. To add or subtract matrices, all you need to
do is add or subtract corresponding elements.

[
3 2 5
1 0 2
] [
6 1 1
0 4 10
]=[
3 +6 2 +1 5 +1
1 +0 0 4 2 +10
] = [
3 1 4
1 4 8
]
To multiply a matrix by a constant, simply multiply each element of the matrix by the constant.
5[
1 2
3 1
] = [
5 10
15 5
]
This is done by multiplying the rows of the first matrix by the columns of the
second.
Two matrices can be multiplied only if the number of columns in matrix is
equal to the number of rows in matrix .
NOTE: means multiplied by , in that order. MATRIX MULTIPLICATION IS NOT
COMMUTATIVE. This means that . The exam may say something like is post-multiplied by this
means the same as . Equally, is pre-multiplied by in .
To multiply two matrices, first generate the correct size for the result matrix as described above. To find the value
of each element in this matrix, calculate the sum of the products of the elements in the corresponding row of the
first matrix and the column of the second.
That is, to find the element in the third row and second column, for instance, you would multiply each element in
the first matrix third row by the corresponding element in the second matrix second column.
= [
4 2
5 1
] = [
2 1
7 3
] = [
4 2 +2 7 4 1 + 2 3
5 2 +1 7 5 1 + 1 3
]
Note: The identity matrix is the equivalent of the number 1 anything multiplied by it remains unchanged. The
zero matrix is the equivalent of the number 0 anything added to it remains unchanged, and anything
multiplied by it becomes the zero matrix.
matrix of order
matrix of order
matrix of order
A matrix with the same
number of rows and
columns is called a square
matrix.
The matrix = [
1 0
0 1
] is called the 2 2 identity matrix
because when you multiply any 2 2 matrix by you get .
= = .
More generally, an identity matrix can be formed for any size of
square matrix, simply by filling every element with zeros and
having a diagonal line from the top left corner to the bottom
right. For example, [
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 1
]is the 3 3 identity matrix.

The square matrix where
every element is zero is called
the zero matrix. For
instance, the 2 2 zero
matrix is [
0 0
0 0
]. Adding the
zero matrix to any other
matrix leaves it unchanged, and
multiplying it by any other
matrix gives the zero matrix.

By applying right-angle trigonometry to a bisected equilateral triangle of side length 2 or an isosceles
right-angled triangle (equal sides of length 1), the following exact results can be obtained these are
preferable to approximations given by calculators and should be used where possible:


in degrees in radians sin cos tan
0 0 0 1 0
30

6

1
2

3
2

1
3

45

4

1
2

1
2

1
60

3

3
2

1
2

3
90

2

1 0
180 0 1 0
360 2 0 1 0
Find the general solution, in degrees, of the equation cos 5 =
3
2

3
2
is the cosine of 30. Therefore, the general solution for 5 is:
5 = (360 30), so the general solution for is:
= (72 6)

The general solution
of the equation
cos = cos for any
angle is:
= (360 ) or
= 2
Sine, however, has two general solutions.
The general solution of the equation
sin = sin for any angle is:
= (360 + ) and = (360 + 180
) or = 2 + and = 2 +

The general
solution of
tan = tan is:
= (180 + )
or = +