Re: If a > 0 and b < 0, which of the following statements are t
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29 Aug 2022, 12:26
I found it helpful to think about a real-life example. I know that since b is negative, the two roots need to have opposite signs (per factoring). And since a is positive, in the equation it will flip to negative with the minus sign, so when I factor, I want the number I subtract to be greater than the number I add.
For example, (x-5)(x+3) = x^2 -2x -15 would meet this criteria, since this creates a negative for both -a and b (a=2, b=-15).
If I look at this test case, I see that the roots that solve the equation are x=5 and x=-3.
Then I just checked these against the criteria and logically deduced why that would be generalizable.
A: They have opposite signs. YES --> We already knew this would have to be the case in order to factor into a number less than zero for b.
B: Their sum is greater than zero: YES --> We see this in our example. Thinking more generally, we know this has to be true in order to create the situation where we could subtract a number for the second term (the one that goes with "x"), as in our equation.
C: Their products equal -b: NO --> In our case, their products equal b, not negative b. We also know from the general rules of factoring that the products of a negative and positive root will be the same as the negative value at the end of our equation.
So the answer is A and B.