The equations and , have exactly one common root, and the other root of the second equation is –4. Among the following, which are the possible values of a and b?
Correct Answer :
a=2, b=−8
Solution :
To find the possible values of and , we can solve the problem step-by-step.
Step 1: Find the roots of the first quadratic equation.
The first equation is given by:
We can factor this quadratic equation by splitting the middle term:
Thus, the roots of the first equation are:
and
Step 2: Analyze the second quadratic equation.
The second equation is:
We are given that the two equations share exactly one common root, and the other root of this second equation is -4. This leads to two possible cases depending on which root is shared.
Case 1: The common root is .
In this case, the roots of the second equation are 2 and -4.
Using the relationship between the roots and coefficients of a quadratic equation:
The sum of the roots is:
The product of the roots is:
So, one possible pair of values is and .
Case 2: The common root is .
In this case, the roots of the second equation are 3 and -4.
The sum of the roots is:
The product of the roots is:
So, another possible pair of values is and .
Conclusion:
Comparing our findings with the given options, the pair corresponds directly to the correct option.
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