Monday, April 21, 2014

What is the solution for x? sqrt(x+5)=x^2-5

The solution is very long a little tough...but I will summarize...

square both sides to get:
%28x%5E2-5%29%5E2=x%2B5
Simplify and rewrite as
P=x%5E4-10x%5E2-x%2B20
We wish to write this as a product of square polynomials, so after some careful thought and experimentation we use

P=%28x%5E2-a%29%5E2-%28bx%2Bc%29%5E2

When we expand this version and compare coefficients we can determine that

1) -2a-b%5E2=-10
2) -2bc=-1
3) a%5E2-c%5E2=20

This nonlinear can be solved by substitution. It has a rational solution of
a=9%2F2
b=1
c=1%2F2

therefore we can write:

P=%28x%5E2-9%2F2%29%5E2-%28x%2B1%2F2%29%5E2
and that means
x%5E4-10x%5E2-x%2B20=%28x%5E2-9%2F2%29%5E2-%28x%2B1%2F2%29%5E2

so that
x%5E4-10x%5E2-x%2B20=%28x%5E2%2Bx-5%29%28x%5E2%2Bx-4%29

and we know there are only two solutions so...
x=%28-1-sqrt%2817%29%29%2F2
x=%281%2Bsqrt%2821%29%29%2F2






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