Submit your Decoding and Disrupting work to the 2026 volume of Transformative Dialogues: Teaching and Learning Journal. Deadline is April, 1st.

Last edited one month ago
by Peter Riegler

Scope of quadratic formula: Difference between revisions

(typsetting formulae)
Tag: 2017 source edit
mNo edit summary
Tag: 2017 source edit
 
Line 1: Line 1:
===Description of Bottleneck===
===Description of Bottleneck===
When using the quadratic formula in the form <math>x=\frac{1}{2} (-p \pm \sqrt{p^2-4q})</math>  
When using the quadratic formula in the form <math>x=\frac{1}{2} \left(-p \pm \sqrt{p^2-4q}\right)</math>  
students don’t check whether the the quadratic equation to be solved is in the form
students don’t check whether the the quadratic equation to be solved is in the form
<math>x^2 + p x + q = 0</math>,
<math>x^2 + p x + q = 0</math>,

Latest revision as of 09:54, 16 February 2026

Description of Bottleneck

When using the quadratic formula in the form students don’t check whether the the quadratic equation to be solved is in the form , i.e. that the -coefficient is equal to unity.

That is to say, students don't check whether the prerequisites for the applicability of this formula apply.

This bottleneck is a special case of Scope of formula.