The discriminant can be positive, zero, or negative, and this determines how many solutions there are to the given quadratic equation.
A positive discriminant indicates that the quadratic has two distinct real number solutions.
A discriminant of zero indicates that the quadratic has a repeated real number solution.
A negative discriminant indicates that neither of the solutions are real numbers.


\(x= \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}\)


for any quadratic equation like:

\(ax^2+bx+c=0\)

Video for an in-depth understanding on Khan Academy

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebr ... -formula-3