High School

13. Marsean solved the following quadratic equation. He didn't end up with the correct answer. Find his mistake. Circle the line where the mistake was made and correct the mistake to get to the correct answer of [tex]x=\frac{2}{5}[/tex].

[tex]\[

\begin{array}{l}

1. \quad 25x^2 = 20x - 4 \\

2. \quad 25x^2 - 20x + 4 = 0 \\

3. \quad a = 25, \, b = -20, \, c = 4 \\

4. \quad x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a} \\

5. \quad x = \frac{--20 \pm \sqrt{-20^2 - 4(25)(4)}}{2(25)} \\

6. \quad x = \frac{20 \pm \sqrt{400 - 400}}{50} \\

7. \quad x = \frac{20 \pm \sqrt{0}}{50} \\

8. \quad x = \frac{20}{50} \\

9. \quad x = \frac{2}{5}

\end{array}

\][/tex]

The mistake is in Line 6. Correct it as follows:

Original Line 6:
[tex]\[x = \frac{20 \pm \sqrt{-800}}{50}\][/tex]

Corrected Line 6:
[tex]\[x = \frac{20 \pm \sqrt{400 - 400}}{50}\][/tex]

Continue with Line 7 to Line 9 to confirm the correct answer.

Answer :

To identify and correct Marsean's mistake in solving the quadratic equation, let's go through the solution step-by-step:

Original Equation:
[tex]\[ 25x^2 = 20x - 4 \][/tex]

Step 1: Rewriting the Equation in Standard Form
To get the equation into standard form, we need to move all terms to one side:
[tex]\[ 25x^2 - 20x + 4 = 0 \][/tex]

Step 2: Identifying Coefficients
The standard form of a quadratic equation is [tex]\( ax^2 + bx + c = 0 \)[/tex]. From our equation:
- [tex]\( a = 25 \)[/tex]
- [tex]\( b = -20 \)[/tex]
- [tex]\( c = 4 \)[/tex]

Step 3: Quadratic Formula
The quadratic formula is:
[tex]\[ x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a} \][/tex]

Step 4: Calculating the Discriminant
The discriminant is the part under the square root in the quadratic formula:
[tex]\[ b^2 - 4ac \][/tex]

Calculate this term:
[tex]\[ b^2 = (-20)^2 = 400 \][/tex]
[tex]\[ 4ac = 4 \times 25 \times 4 = 400 \][/tex]

Thus, the discriminant is:
[tex]\[ 400 - 400 = 0 \][/tex]

Step 5: Solving for x using the Quadratic Formula
Since the discriminant is 0, this means there is one real and repeated root:
[tex]\[ x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{0}}{2a} \][/tex]

Simplify:
[tex]\[ x = \frac{20}{50} = \frac{2}{5} \][/tex]

Mistake Identification:
Marsean made a mistake when calculating the term inside the square root (the discriminant). He should have calculated the discriminant as [tex]\( 0 \)[/tex] instead of a negative value, which led to his incorrect statement of "No real solution."

Correct Solution:
The correct and repeated solution to the quadratic equation is:
[tex]\[ x = \frac{2}{5} \][/tex]

This step-by-step approach shows how the error occurred and how to solve the equation correctly.