Texas Instruments TI-89 Deriving the Quadratic Formula Deriving the Quadratic FormulaDeriving the Quadratic Formula, Deriving the Quadratic Formula

Activities 743
Deriving the Quadratic Formula
Deriving the Quadratic FormulaDeriving the Quadratic Formula
Deriving the Quadratic Formula
This activity shows you how to derive the quadratic formula:
x =
4. Use the zeros() function to compute the
zeros of the first derivative of c(w) to find
the minimum value of c(w).
Note: The maximum length of the pole is
the minimum value of c(w).
5. Compute the exact maximum length of
the pole.
Enter: c (2 ±)
6. Compute the approximate maximum
length of the pole.
Result: Approximately 20.8097 feet.
Note: Use the auto-paste feature to copy
the result from step 4 to the entry line
inside the parentheses of c() and press
8 ¸.
b–b24ac–±
2a
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