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FP1 Roots of Polynomials

Can someone clear something up for me?

I'm working out an equation and my sum of the roots is 11/8
so -b/a = 11/8
the product of the two roots is 1
so c/a = 1/1

In this kind of situation, how would I work out my true value for a?

Alternatively is there another way I can work out the equation without the use of a, b, c etc?

Thx
Original post by riddleofrevenge
Can someone clear something up for me?

I'm working out an equation and my sum of the roots is 11/8
so -b/a = 11/8
the product of the two roots is 1
so c/a = 1/1

In this kind of situation, how would I work out my true value for a?

Alternatively is there another way I can work out the equation without the use of a, b, c etc?

Thx

Hi. Does it specify that a, b, c have to be integers? If so, you have two fractions, of which the common denominator is 8, so I would suggest that 8 is the value of a.

Or using the information given, you could form a quadratic equation in the form x2-(b/a)x+(c/a) and multiply through by the common denominator to get rid of the fractions, giving you integer values of a, b, c.
(edited 8 years ago)

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