Whoa! You're right HallsofIvy! All this time I've actually been dealing with 450 from 900/2 instead of 30, the square root of 900! I'm so embarrassed at this ridiculous mistake! :blushing:
I have to disagree there. It is not unusual to treat 50x^2 - 72 as ax^2 - bx - c, with b = 0. In the...
I chose this subject title to get your attention. :biggrin:
Anyway, I know how to solve it; it's obviously a matter of factoring and the difference of two squares:
50x^2 - 72
2(25x^2 - 36)
2(5x - 6) (5x + 6)
However, when I try to solve it the normal way -- by factoring -- things go...
Thanks for your reply guys.
I wasn't really worried, Tiny-Tim :smile:. It's just that, as I've been preparing, all the equations I came across had the decimals and fractions either outside the parentheses or distributed in a way that made the multiplication process easier, like, for instance...
What do I do when a decimal or a fraction is found only within the parentheses in a linear equation? I know about the general removal process; but my question involves equations like these:
17(2.33 - x) - 35(4 - 30x) = 2
7(4/3 - x) + 24(5x - 60) = 31
Should I distribute first and then get...