How do you solve x= sqrt(6x) +7?

2 Answers
Apr 15, 2018

x=10+sqrt51

Explanation:

x=sqrt(6x)+7
First let's define the domain :
x>=0
So:
x-7=sqrt(6x)
(x-7)²=6x
(x²-14x+49)-6x=0
x²-20x+49=0
Δ=20²-4*49
Δ=204
x=(-b+-sqrtΔ)/2a
x_"1"=(20-sqrt204)/2
x_"2"=(20+sqrt204)/2
x_"1"=(20-2sqrt51)/2
x_"2"=(20+2sqrt51)/2
x_"1"=10-sqrt51<0=> NOT a solution.
x_"2"=10+sqrt51
So : x=10+sqrt51
\0/ herex's our answer!

Apr 15, 2018

x=10+sqrt51

Bare with me please: this is a long solution process:

Explanation:

We can subtract 7 from both sides to arrive at:

x-7=sqrt(6x)

We can square both sides to get:

color(blue)((x-7)^2)=6x

=color(blue)((x-7)(x-7))=6x

What I have in blue, we can use the highly useful mnemonic FOIL to simplify this. We simply multiply the first terms, outside terms, inside and last terms. We get:

  • First terms: x*x=x^2
  • Outside terms: x*-7=-7x
  • Inside terms: -7*x=-7x
  • Last terms: -7*-7=49

Now, we have:

color(blue)(x^2-7x-7x+49)=6x

Which can be simplified to

x^2-14x+49=6x

We have a quadratic on the left, so we want to set it equal to zero to find its zeroes. We do this by subtracting 6x from both sides to get:

x^2-20x+49=0

The only factors of 49 are 1, 7 and 49, and neither of them, positive or negative, add up to -20. We can use the quadratic formula:

x=(-b+-sqrt(b^2-4ac))/(2a)

where a=1, b=-20 & c=49 (in the form ax^2+bx+c=0)

Plugging into the quadratic formula, we get:

x=(20+-sqrt(400-4(1*49)))/(2*1)

Which simplifies to

x=(20+-color(blue)(sqrt(204)))/2

Because 51*4=204, we can rewrite color(blue)(sqrt204) as

color(blue)(sqrt4*sqrt51)

Which obviously simplifies to color(blue)(2sqrt51)

Now, we have

x=(20+-2sqrt51)/2

Every term is divisible by 2, so we can factor a 2 out to get

x=(color(red)(10)cancel(20)+-cancel2sqrt51)/(color(red)(1)cancel2)

Which is equal to

color(red)(x=10+-sqrt51)

Since our answer had a square root in it, we know the domain has to be x>=0.

10+sqrt51>0, so this is a solution for x but

10-sqrt51<0, which is outside of the domain, so we get

x=10+sqrt51

as our final solution.

This was a long solution process, but all I did was:

  • Get x on one side
  • Square both sides to get rid of the square root
  • Used FOIL to simplify the left side
  • Used the Quadratic Formula
  • Checked the domain

I really hope this helps!