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What is the solution to the equation square root 2x+3 - square root x+2=2

What is the solution to the equation square root 2x+3 - square root x+2=2-example-1
User DaleK
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1 Answer

6 votes

Answer:

x = 23

Explanation:

let's square both sides. that eliminates the individual square roots and creates one central term with square roots :

2x + 3 + x + 2 - 2 sqrt(2x + 3)×sqrt(x + 2) = 4

3x + 5 - 2×sqrt((2x + 3)(x + 2)) = 4

3x + 1 - 2×sqrt(2x² + 4x + 3x + 6) = 0

3x + 1 - 2×sqrt(2x² + 7x + 6) = 0

3x + 1 = 2×sqrt(2x² + 7x + 6)

now let's square both sides again

9x² + 6x + 1 = 4(2x² + 7x + 6) = 8x² + 28x + 24

x² - 22x - 23 = 0

a quadratic equation

ax²x+ bx + c = 0

has 2 solutions

x = (-b ± sqrt(b² - 4ac))/(2a)

in our case

x = (22 ± sqrt((-22)² - 4×1×-23))/(2×1) =

= (22 ± sqrt(484 + 92))/2 =

= (22 ± sqrt(576))/2 = (22 ± 24)/2 =

= 11 ± 12

x1 = 11 + 12 = 23

x2 = 11 - 12 = -1

since we squared twice in the process, and every solution to a square is a ±sqrt (so, 2 solutions with alternating signs), we need to try both solutions in the original equation to see which ones really fulfill it.

sqrt(2×23 + 3) - sqrt(23 + 2) = 2

sqrt(46 + 3) - sqrt(25) = 2

sqrt(49) - 5 = 2

7 - 5 = 2

correct, x = 23 is a valid solution.

sqrt(2×-1 + 3) - sqrt(-1 + 2) = 2

sqrt(-2 + 3) - sqrt(1) = 2

sqrt(1) - 1 = 2

1 - 1 = 2

wrong. so, x = -1 is not a valid solution to the original equation.

User The F
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