How do you use the quadratic formula to solve #x^2=5-x#?

1 Answer
Jul 27, 2016

#x=1.79 , x=-2.79#

Explanation:

First, we need to get all the terms of the equations on one side of the equation
I added x to the left side
#x+x^2=5#
then I subtracted 5
#-5+x+x^2=0#
now I will rearrange the equation to make it look similar to #ax^2+bx+c=0#
#x^2+x-5=0#

So we want to use the quadratic formula to find what the roots of x are
the quadratic formula is
#x=(-b+-sqrt(b^2-4ac))/(2*a)#

from the equation we will identify what #a, b, and c# are
#a=1#
#b=1#
#c=-5#

now we plug all this in to the formula
#x=(-(1)+-sqrt((1)^2-4(1)(-5)))/(2*(1))#

next we simplify
#x=(-(1)+-sqrt(1+20))/(2)#

#x=(-1+-sqrt(21))/(2)#

#x=(-1+-4.58)/(2)#

there will be two answers for x because of the #+-#
#x=(-1+4.58)/(2)=3.58/2=1.79#
#x=(-1-4.58)/(2)=-5.58/2=-2.79#