Find the Discriminant -5x^2-8x-6=0

$- 5 x^{2} - 8 x - 6 = 0$

Step 1

The discriminant of a quadratic is the expression inside the radical of the quadratic formula.

$b^{2} - 4 (a c)$

Step 2

Substitute in the values of $a$ , $b$ , and $c$ .

${(- 8)}^{2} - 4 (- 5 \cdot - 6)$

Step 3

Evaluate the result to find the discriminant.

Simplify each term.

Raise $- 8$ to the power of $2$ .

$64 - 4 (- 5 \cdot - 6)$

Multiply $- 4 (- 5 \cdot - 6)$ .

Multiply $- 5$ by $- 6$ .

$64 - 4 \cdot 30$

Multiply $- 4$ by $30$ .

$64 - 120$

Subtract $120$ from $64$ .

$- 56$