Since this question is given in standard form, meaning that it follows the form: ax^(2) + bx + c = 0, we can use the quadratic formula to solve for x:
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I think it's worthwhile to mention that a is the number that has the x^2 term associated with it. Thus, it would be 1x^(2) for this question.b is the number that has the x variable associated with it and it would be -16x, and c is a number by itself and in this case it is 7.
Now, we just plug our values into the equation like this:
x = (- (-16) +- sqrt((-16)^(2) - 4(1)(7)))/(2(1))
x = (16 +-sqrt(256-28))/2
x = (16 +- sqrt(228))/2
For these type of problems, you will obtain two solutions because of the +- part. So what you want to do is add 16 and sqrt(228) together and divide that by 2:
x = (16+sqrt(228))/2
x = 31.10/2= 15.55
Now, we subtract sqrt(228) from 16 and divide by 2:
x = (16-sqrt(228))/2
x = 0.90/2 = 0.45
Therefore, the two possible solutions are:
x = 15.55 and x = 0.45
