How do you solve $x^2 - 5x - 6 = 0$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2016-04-07T09:16:30

The solutions are:

$x = 6$
$x = -1$

$x^2 - 5x - 6 = 0$

The equation is of the form $color(blue)(ax^2+bx+c=0$ where:
$a=1, b=-5, c=-6$

The Discriminant is given by:
$Delta=b^2-4*a*c$

$= (-5)^2-(4* 1 * (-6))$

$= 25 + 24 = 49$

The solutions are normally found using the formula
$x=(-b+-sqrtDelta)/(2*a)$

$x = (-(-5)+-sqrt(49))/(2*1) = (5+-7)/2$

$x = (5+7) / 2 = 12/2 = 6$

$x = (5-7) / 2 = -2/2 = -1$

How do you solve x^2 - 5x - 6 = 0x^2 - 5x - 6 = 0?