Quadratic Inequalities

I.  Homework

II.  Solving Quadratic Equations

We solve quadratic equations by either factoring or using the quadratic formula.  

We define the discriminant   of the quadratic ax2 + bx + c as

D = b2 - 4ac

We have

D # of Roots
> 0 2
< 0 0
0 1

  How many roots does

1045456564x2 + 3x + 2134534265256 have?

III.  Quadratic Inequalities

Example:

x2 - x - 6 > 0

Solution:  first we  solve the equality by factoring:

(x - 3)(x + 2) = 0

Hence x = -2 or x = 3

Next we cut the number line into three regions:  x < -2, -2 < x < 3, and x > 3

On the first region (test x = -3), the quadratic is positive, on the second region (test x = 0) the quadratic is negative, and on the third region (test x = 5) the quadratic is positive.  Hence our solution is region 1 and region 2.

x < -2 or x > 3.

We will see how to verify this on a graphing calculator by noticing that y = x2 - x - 6 stays above the x-axis when x < -2 and when x > 3.  

A demo will be given in class.

IV.  Applications

A 4 ft walkway surrounds a circular flower garden, as shown in the sketch. The area of the walk is 44% of the area of the garden. Find the radius of the garden.

Solution: Area of the walk = pi(4 + r)2 -pi( r)2 = .44(pi)( r)2

Dividing by pi we have,

(4 + r)2 - r2 = .44r2 multiplying out, we get,

16 + 8r + r2 -r2 = .44r2 or

.44r2 -8r -16

Now use the quadratic formula:

a = .44, b = -8, c = -16

so

r = (8 +- sqrt(64 - 4(.44)(-16)))/16

or r = 1.1 or -.1

since -.1 does not make sense, we can say that the radius of the garden is 1.1feet.

Example: The profit function for burgers at Heavenly is given by

P = 35x - (x2)/25,000,000 - 40,000.

Where x represents the number of skiers that come on a given day. How many skiers paying for Heavenly will produce the maximal profit?