gyaaaaaaah

[steelbeliever]

please, someone tell me what in that name of all that is good and holy is a quadratic formula and how it will help me becoem a writer...*drools*

[Alice]

1) something to do with math

2) it won't

Try googling it. Maybe you can find an explanation there. Because I don't remember the details.

[Debitt]

quadratic formula: -b(plus or minus)(square root of: b^2-4ac)/2a

ways it can help you become a writer: I haven't the foggiest. >>; Maybe one of your characters will need to factor a quadratic equation?

[TurkishMonky]

it will help you if you write mathbooks! :-)

[Cap'n Nick]

Here's a nifty page I found on the quadratic formula that I found from Googling around a bit:

http://www.teacherschoice.com.au/Maths_Library/Algebra/Alg_6.htm

As for helping you be a writer, it may not be English, but it's not as useless as you'd think. It is a writer's job to experience, and to translate these experiences into thoughts and feeling. Math and science are particularly adept at presenting us with new ways to experience things. And of itself, this experience is particularly important because not experiencing it will prevent you from experiencing things that writers more readily acknowledge as important, such as "graduating" and "college English."

[Pepper Kittie]

Ewww, math! XD I hope I'm not digging up an old thread, but though I hate math with a passion I've got a strange talent for it. A few years back my teacher taught us a song to remember the quadratic equation and I don't think I'll ever forget it. I wish I could sing it to you! You'd never forget it either! X3 But it's something that you'll use in the future and if you know the song it'll come in handy! It goes to the tune of "Row row row your boat" or whatever the title is. It goes like this:

The opposite of B plus or minus the square root
Of B squared minus 4 A C
All over 2 A!

Umm... I hope I didn't scare you XD It helps, really, it does! 0_o

[Hephzibah]

The quadratic formula, which has already been posted, is used to find the roots of a quadratic equation.
A quadratic eqn is a(x^2) + bx + c = 0
An example of this is here:
x^2 + 2x + 1 = 0

Here, a = 1 b = 2 c =1

Plugging that into the eqn;

-b = -2
square root of (2^2 - 4[1][1]) = sq root of (4-4) = sq root of 0 = 0
2a = 2[1] = 2

therefore, the quadratic equation is [-2 (plus or minus) 0] / 2
which equals -2 / 2 = -1.

The root of this equation is x = -1; or x+1 = 0 (deduced by rearranging the x = -1)

I hope that helped

[Icarus]

If you need to, we could take it one step farther, and derive it.

[Hephzibah]

YES! Let's derive it! XD
.... you do that with differentiation right?

[Icarus]

No, differentiation is Calc, this is only algebra. You derive the quad. form. by completing the square. Like this:

ax^2 +bx +c =0
x^2 +(bx)/a +c/a =0
x^2 + (bx)/a = -c/a
x^2 +(bx)/a +[(b^2)/4a^2]* = (b^2)/4a^2 - c/a
[x+(b/2a)]^2 =+ sqrt[(b^2 - 4ac)/4a^2]
x= [-b +sqrt(b^2 -4ac)]/2a

*The generic form for the sum of two squares is x^2 +2yx +y^2. At this point, I consolidated a few things. Since x^2 + (bx)/a is equal to x^2 +2[(b)/2a]x, it follows that in this case, y= b/2a. We square that and insert it here and on the other side for balance.

#It wasn't marked, but someone may be confused as to what sqrt is. It's a contraction of square root, and applies to the term in the groupers following it.

[Hephzibah]

aaah of course! XD Nicely done
*hasn't actually read through the proof, but is sure Icarus did it right *