## anonymous 5 years ago (5-x)^1/2 = x+1 (show steps plz!)

1. anonymous

2. anonymous

sounds good to me.

3. anonymous

Okay, so it's easier if you get rid of the 1/2 exponent, so square both sides.

4. anonymous

i did that and got 5-x= x^2+2x+1

5. anonymous

then set everything equal to 0

6. anonymous

0=x^2+3x-4

7. anonymous

factor that

8. anonymous

everything after is a blurr

9. anonymous

ok

10. anonymous

ummm yeah. i have no idea.

11. anonymous

12. anonymous

all right. so when you factor you're going to get (x+y)(x-z)=0 where y and z are numbers, possibly the same number. You know you're going to subtract one of them and add one of them because if you look at the number that has no x's in it (-4) you subtract it. Did that much make sense?

13. anonymous

You can also use the quadratic formula, but I find factoring it easier.

14. anonymous

Factoring is easier, but for people who can't do that sort of factoring in their head, the quadratic formula is handy.

15. anonymous

Or at least it's easier if you understand factoring, which is definitely something you learn by practicing.

16. anonymous

Exactly!

17. anonymous

is that -(b)sqrt(b^2)-4(a)(c)/ 2(a)?

18. anonymous

That's true, I completely agree with you, Harwin. Sorry, slow typer apparently!

19. anonymous

(-b + sqrt(b^2 - 4ac))/2a and (-b - sqrt(b^2 - 4ac))/2a

20. anonymous

oh whoops yeah for got the +-

21. anonymous

Anyway, snooozzzzze knows how to get you through it. I'll give the show back to him.

22. anonymous

haha her, but that's ok. :) Do you want to use the quadractic formula, or try factoring?

23. anonymous

so does $-11+-\sqrt{73}/8$ sound like its on the right track?

24. anonymous

Oh sorry. English really needs a genderless pronoun other than "it"....

25. anonymous

ha

26. anonymous

Use the quadractic formula on this equation: 0=x^2+3x-4

27. anonymous

oh shoot sorry i was looking at another equation

28. anonymous

That's very true. Not sure calling me it would have been better, but in any case it's not a big deal at all. RedCarr: No problem at all. Just try again with the right equation this time.

29. anonymous

how about $-3+-\sqrt{57}/2$?

30. anonymous

I'm not sure how you got the 57, but it's wrong.

31. anonymous

also, when you do it, make sure that you know that the 2 is over everything, not just the squareroot part.

32. anonymous

in place of the 57 would it be 25?

33. anonymous

that looks right to me.

34. anonymous

so x=1 and X=-8?

35. anonymous

No, this is what you should get: (−3+5)/2 (−3-5)/2

36. anonymous

? i meant -4 but why the parenthesis?

37. anonymous

because otherwise you'd have written -3+5/2 which would simplify to -3+2.5=-0.5

38. anonymous

but yes, -4 and 1 is correct.

39. anonymous

except look at your original problem to see if they work.

40. anonymous

do you have a graphing calc with you? if you do plug in $-3+\sqrt{25}$

41. anonymous

because actually only one of them works in that case.

42. anonymous

I don't have a calculator, but I can visualize it.

43. anonymous

yeah only 1 does not the -4

44. anonymous

right, and that's because when we started the problem we squared both sides, which gave us the extra answer.

45. anonymous

well when i plugged it in my answer was 2. then i divided that 2 by 2 to get 1 which is the only answer.

46. anonymous

I'm sorry, could you restate that? I'm not really sure what you mean.