Скачать или смотреть Why the quadratic formula works: I never actually learned this in school!

Hey STEM majors: you probably memorized the quadratic formula in your first algebra class, but do you know where it comes from?

A second-year engineering student in my differential equations class recently asked me where the quadratic formula comes from, and this was a great reminder: I didn't know where it came from until I started teaching math!

Somehow these basic algebra knowledge gaps persist long after we've developed more advanced mathematical tools. As STEM majors, we tend to apply our new mathematical tools to the problems at hand, and sometimes we forget to question the foundations they're built on.

So let's get started on shoring up the foundations of our mathematical knowledge: we derive the quadratic formula, explaining the process of completing the square by motivating each step with common sense, not memorization!

#quadraticformula #mathgaps #stem