What is the quadratic equation and what does it do?
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The simplest “non linear” function is a quadratic function, any function that is of the form y = ax^2 + bx + c with a b c being anything you choose. This makes kind of a U shape, we also call these parabolas.
It’s sometimes important to figure out for which x values this function hits y = 0, which it often does twice, and generally important to find where it hits any y value. We can use the quadratic formula to figure out where this happens based on a, b, and c.
One common example is throwing things. Throwing anything follows a ballistic (quadratic) path, if you know how strong you threw something, you can use the quadratic formula to figure out where and when it will hit the ground.
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