Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

PreCalculus for Engineers

Dr David J.J. Devlin

Lecture 1

The Quadratic Equation

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Introduction

Real numbers include integers (e.g -2,-1,0,1,2),

rational numbers (e.g.

-1/2, 1/3), and irrational numbers (e.g. ,

2).

It is a continuous set of numbers. (Roughly speaking, there is no gap in

the set.) The set is unbounded. It goes from minus infinity () to plus
infinity ().

The set of real numbers is denoted IR.

If a number x is a real number, we may write

x IR,
which means the number x is in the set IR.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

The Real Line

We can represent graphically the set of real numbers by a line.

1/2
3

2
1

negative real numbers

positive real numbers

Figure: Illustration of the real line.

Each number corresponds to a unique point along the line and conversely,

each point along the line corresponds to a unique real number.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Ordering Real Numbers

Definition: Real numbers have a beautiful property: they can be

ordered. Integers, rational numbers share the same property (as they are
part of the set of real numbers), but for example, complex numbers do not.

Consider two real numbers a and b. We may write

a > b,
which means a is strictly greater than b, if a b is a strictly positive
number (i.e. positive, non-null). Equivalently a stands on the right of b
along the real line.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Ordering Real Numbers: Some Properties

If a > b and b > c then a > c.
If a > b then a + c > b + c, c IR.
If a > b then a c > b c, c IR. [Note that this result is already

included in the statement above as subtracting c is equivalent to add c.]

If a > b and c is strictly positive then ac > bc.

Example: let a=2, b=1, c=3. Obviously a>b, and ac(=6)>bc(=3).

If a > b and c is strictly negative then ac < bc.

Example: let a=2, b=1, c=-3. Obviously a>b, and ac(=-6)<bc(=-3).

Note: the symbol above means for all.

Note that dividing by a number follows the same rules as multiplying by a

number. If the number we divide by is positive then we keep the same
inequality, if it is negative we need to reverse the inequality, as we see above for
multiplication. Recall than dividing by c, is nothing but multiplying by 1/c.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

Ordering Real Numbers: Other Inequality Symbols

means greater than or equal to.

< means strictly less than.
means less than or equal to.
All these inequalities follow similar properties.

The Quadratic Equation

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Absolute Value

A real number can be positive (e.g. ) or negative (e.g. ). The

absolute value of a number is the value of the number disregarding its

sign, or to be more specific considering it as positive.

Mathematically, we may say that the absolute value of a real number a,

denoted |a| (also called the modulus of a) is

a if a < 0,
|a| =
a if a 0.

Example: |2| = 2 and | 2| = (2) = 2.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Division By Zero
Dividing by zero does not make any sense. NEVER DIVIDE BY

ZERO!!!!!!!

Mathematically we say that the division by zero is undefined. Let us

consider below some examples where we divide by zero and reach silly
conclusions.

Example 1: 0/0 is anything you want.

Consider the harmless equation

a
= c.
b
Multiplying the equation by b, we obtain
a = bc.
Now, imagine b = 0, that means that a = 0, while c can still be anything
we want! Going back to the initial equation, we have
0
= c, c IR.
0
It clearly does not make sense.
Rule: Do not ever divide an equation by something that could be zero.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Division By Zero
Example 2: 1 = 2 ?!

In this example, we are going to wrongly show that 1 = 2, again due to a

wrong division by zero along the way. Again we start from the most
harmless of all equation:
a = b.

Now we multiply the equation by b to get,

ab = b 2 .
Then we add (b 2 2ab) on both sides of the equation,
ab + (b 2 2ab) = b 2 + (b 2 2ab).
Simplifying

(b 2 ab) = 2(b 2 ab).

Finally, if we divide the equation by the common factor b 2 ab, we obtain

1 = 2.
which is obviously wrong. What happened? In the last step, we have
divided the equation by b 2 ab. But since a = b, b 2 ab = 0, we have
therefore divided by zero, and have reached a stupid conclusion.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

The Quadratic Equation: Real Solutions

Consider the equation

ax 2 + bx + c = 0,

where x is the unknown and a, b and c are three real constants. We shall
assume that a 6= 0.
Note: if a = 0, the equation becomes linear bx + c = 0 so x = c/b.

The two real solutions (or roots) to the quadratic equation are

x=

b 2 4ac
,
2a

provided b 2 4ac 0.

Note that if you have an equation of the form

ax 2 + bx + c = 0,
and that a and c have opposite sign, you will always find two real
solutions. Obviously, b 2 is positive as it is a square. If a and c have
opposite sign, ac must be negative. So -4ac
is positive. Therefore
b 2 4ac is positive, so we can evaluate b 2 4ac.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation: Real Solutions

Proof:

Dividing the equation by a, assumed non-null, we have

x2 +

b
c
x + = 0.
a
a

Noticing that

2
2
b
b
b2
b
b
x+
= x2 + 2 x +
= x2 + x + 2 ,
2a
2a
2a
a
4a
we have
x2 +

b
x=
a

2
b
b2
x+
2.
2a
4a

This manipulation is called completing the square.

Our quadratic equation is then

2 2

b
c
b
c
b

= 0,
x2 + x + = x +
a
a
2a
4a2
a
or

2 2
b
b 4ac
x+
.
=
2a
4a2

The Quadratic Equation

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation: Real Solutions

If b 2 4ac 0, b 2 4ac =

2
b 2 4ac , therefore

2 2
2

b 4ac
b
.
=
x+
2a
2a

Finally

x+

b 2 4ac
b
=
,
2a
2a

which gives the result:

x=

b 2 4ac
,
2a

The Quadratic Equation

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Discussion about solutions in general

Let us denote d = b 2 4ac.

If d 0, let us define =

d. The solutions (or roots) x1 and x2 to the

quadratic equation can be expressed as
x1 =

b
,
2a

x2 =

b +
2a

and

If = 0, then x1 = x2 . There is only one root, called a double root.

If 6= 0, then the two roots are different. Note that then x2 x1 = /a 6= 0.
If d < 0, there cannot be real solutions. Going back to the result

b 4ac
b 2
=
x+
,
2a
4a2
we have an equation where the left-hand side is positive (as it is a square of
a real number) and the right-hand side is negative. This is impossible for
real numbers.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Properties of the solutions

Consider our real solutions

x1 =

b
,
2a

x2 =

b +
2a

and
Then

x1 + x2 =

b b +
b
= .
2a
a

and
x1 x2 =

b
2a

b +
2a

x1 x2 =

1
1
(b)(b+) = 2 (b 2 2 ),
4a2
4a

4ac
c
1
(b 2 (b 2 4ac)) = 2 =
4a2
4a
a

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

Properties of the Solutions

This means that in the equation

x2 +

b
c
x + = 0,
a
a

the coefficient in front of the term in x (namely b/a) is the opposite of

the sum of the roots (namely (x1 + x2 )), while the constant term
(namely c/a) is the product of the roots (namely x1 x2 ). These properties
are very handy when one of the roots is obvious. We can deduce the
second one very rapidly.
We also see the obvious result that

x2 +

c
b
x + = x 2 (x1 + x2 )x + x1 x2 = (x x1 )(x x2 ) = 0.
a
a

Writing the quadrating equation in the latter form is called factorising

the equation.

Introduction

The Real Line

Ordering Real Numbers

Absolute Value

Division By Zero

The Quadratic Equation

The Quadratic Equation

Example: Consider the equation

x 2 4x + 3 = 0
It is clear that x1 = 1 is a solution as (1)2 4 1 + 3 = 0. To find the
second root, we may use the fact that the sum of the roots is the opposite
of the coefficient in front of x, which is therefore 4 = (4), hence the
second root x2 must be 4 1 = 3. Alternatively we could have used the
fact that the product of the roots is the constant term in the equation: 3 .