Sum and Product of Roots Help! (1 Viewer)

alussovsky

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Hi! So I'm having trouble with this question from Cambridge X1 Year 12:

If α and β are roots of the equation 2x2 + 5x - 4 = 0, find |α - β|

Thank you!
 

jetn1234

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Use the definition of absolute values, so you would get |α - β|= sqrt ((α-β)^2) and you should be able to do it from there.
 

fan96

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You can think of as the difference in magnitude between the two roots.

Using the quadratic formula,



Subtract either root from the other and discard the sign to get:

 
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