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With the standard notation,

If b2 < 4ac then the discriminant is negative

If b2 = 4ac then the discriminant is zero

If b2 > 4ac then the discriminant is positive

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Q: How do you tell if a discriminant is positive negative or zero?
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Related questions

What are the three outcomes of a discriminant?

The discriminant can be positive, zero or negative.


If the discriminant is zero then there are no imaginary solutions?

Yes, if the discriminant is zero, then there will be a double root, which will be real.Also, If the discriminant is positive, there will be two distinct real solutions. But if the discriminant is negative, then you will have two complex solutions.


What does the discriminant tell you?

The discriminant tells you how many solutions there are to an equation The discriminant is b2-4ac For example, two solutions for a equation would mean the discriminant is positive. If it had 1 solution would mean the discriminant is zero If it had no solutions would mean that the discriminant is negative


How do you find how many x intercepts the parabola has using the discriminant?

If the discriminant is negative, there are 0 interceptsIf the discriminant is zero, there is 1 interceptIf the discriminant is positive, there are 2 intercepts


If the discriminant is negative the equation has solutions?

As stated in the attached link, there are three possible discriminant conditions: Positive, Zero, or Negative. If the discriminant is negative, there are no real solutions but there are two imaginary solutions. So, yes there are solutions if the discriminant is negative. The solutions are imaginary, which is perfectly acceptable as solutions.


If the discriminant is a perfect square then the answer is this?

If the discriminant is a perfect square, it makes calculation easy on paper. Otherwise, the only property of the discriminant that matters is whether it is positive, negative or zero.


What is a discriminant and how does help to solve equations?

In the quadratic formula, the discriminant is b2-4ac. If the discriminant is positive, the equation has two real solutions. If it equals zero, the equation has one real solution. If the discriminant is negative, it has two imaginary solutions. This is because you find the square root of the discriminant and add or subtract it from -b and divide the sum or difference by 2a. If the square root is of a positive number, then you get two different solutions, one from adding the discriminant to -b and one from subtracting the discriminant from -b. If the square root is of zero, then it equals zero, and the solution is -b/2a. If the square root is of a negative number, then you have two imaginary solutions because you can't take the square root of a negative number and get a real number. One solution is from subtracting the discriminant from -b and dividing by 2a, and the other is from adding it to -b and dividing by 2a. The parabola on the left has a positive discriminant. The parabola in the middle has a discriminant of zero. The parabola on the right has a negative discriminant.


How do you know if the discriminant is negative?

You calculate the value of the discriminant. If the answer is less that zero, that is, if the answer has a minus sign in front then it is negative.


What is the type of the solution determined by?

It depends on the discriminant value of the quadratic equation. If the discriminant is positive, there are two distinct real solutions; if it is zero, there is one real solution; and if it is negative, there are two complex conjugate solutions.


How to tell if there are no real roots?

The real roots of what, exactly? If you mean a square trinomial, then: If the discriminant is positive, the polynomial has two real roots. If the discriminant is zero, the polynomial has one (double) real root. If the discriminant is negative, the polynomial has two complex roots (and of course no real roots). The discriminant is the term under the square root in the quadratic equation, in other words, b2 - 4ac.


What is zero negative property?

Zero is not negative. It is not positive either.Zero is not negative. It is not positive either.Zero is not negative. It is not positive either.Zero is not negative. It is not positive either.


What can the discriminant tell you about a quadratic equation?

It can tell you three things about the quadratic equation:- 1. That the equation has 2 equal roots when the discriminant is equal to zero. 2. That the equation has 2 distinctive roots when the discriminant is greater than zero. &pound;. That the equation has no real roots when the discriminant is less than zero.