Question 541962: It's my very first time seeking help on this website because I am truly lost. The question from my book says that "the radicand of the quadratic formula,  , can be used to determine whether  has solutions that are rational, irrational, or not real numbers." I haven't been able to solve the problem on this website because it's saying that the first coefficient is zero. It's also asking me to explain how this works. And if it possible to determine the kinds of answers that one will obtain to a quadratic equation without actually solving the equation. I would greatly appreciate any help I can get.
Answer by Alan3354(69443)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! The question from my book says that "the radicand of the quadratic formula, , can be used to determine whether has solutions that are rational, irrational, or not real numbers."
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I just did this one.
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b^2 - 4ac is the determinant.
If it's a perfect square and >0, there are 2 rational answers or roots.
If it's a perfect square and =0, there are 2 rational answers or roots that are the same.
If it's not a perfect square and >0, there are 2 irrational answers or roots.
If it's <0, there are 2 complex answers or roots.
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I don't know what you mean is "saying the first coefficient is zero", but if it is, if a = 0, then it's a linear equation, bx + c = 0
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