How do you solve x^2-2x-8<0 using a sign chart?

1 Answer
Dec 24, 2016

The answer is x in ] -2,4 [

Explanation:

We factorise the expression

x^2-2x-8=(x+2)(x-4)

Let, f(x)=(x+2)(x-4)

Now we can make the sign chart

color(white)(aaaa)xcolor(white)(aaaa)-oocolor(white)(aaaa)-2color(white)(aaaa)4color(white)(aaaa)+oo

color(white)(aaaa)x+2color(white)(aaaaa)-color(white)(aaaa)+color(white)(aaaa)+

color(white)(aaaa)x-4color(white)(aaaaa)-color(white)(aaaa)-color(white)(aaaa)+

color(white)(aaaa)f(x)color(white)(aaaaaa)+color(white)(aaaa)-color(white)(aaaa)+

Therefore,

f(x)<0, when x in ] -2,4 [