Sunday 20 July 2014

algebra precalculus - Solving the equation $11x^2-6000x-27500 =0$, preferably without the quadratic formula



I obtained this form while solving an aptitude question.



$$\frac{3000}{x-50} + \frac{3000}{x+50} = 11$$



I changed it into quadratic equation




$$11x^2 -6000x - 27500 =0$$



but I don't know how to solve it.



I can't find two factor for 303500 that sums to 6000 or when I use formula the numbers become huge...
Without using calculator
how to solve it? is there any other simple way to solve [other method]? [or finding factor] I'm a beginner in math. Please explain your answer for me.


Answer



There isn't any standard, guaranteed method apart from the quadratic formula to solve a quadractic equation. However sometimes there are "ad-hoc tricks" which might help you get one root.




The RHS of the equation is an integer; You might suspect that an $x$ such that both the terms on the LHS are integers might be a root (this does not have to be true at all, but it's not bad to try).



Also since $x-50$ and $x+50$ differ by $100$, you want a number $y$ such that both $y$ and $y+100$ divide $3000$. Noticing that $500$ and $600$ satisfy this gives $x=550$ as a root.



Using this, you can find the other root quite easily to be $x=-\frac{50}{11}$ since the product of the roots is $-27500/11$.


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