Solve Using the Quadratic Formula 5x^2-34x-7=0

$5 x^{2} - 34 x - 7 = 0$

Step 1

Use the quadratic formula to find the solutions.

$\frac{- b \pm \sqrt{b^{2} - 4 (a c)}}{2 a}$

Step 2

Substitute the values $a = 5$ , $b = - 34$ , and $c = - 7$ into the quadratic formula and solve for $x$ .

$\frac{34 \pm \sqrt{{(- 34)}^{2} - 4 \cdot (5 \cdot - 7)}}{2 \cdot 5}$

Step 3

Simplify.

Simplify the numerator.

Raise $- 34$ to the power of $2$ .

$x = \frac{34 \pm \sqrt{1156 - 4 \cdot 5 \cdot - 7}}{2 \cdot 5}$

Multiply $- 4 \cdot 5 \cdot - 7$ .

Multiply $- 4$ by $5$ .

$x = \frac{34 \pm \sqrt{1156 - 20 \cdot - 7}}{2 \cdot 5}$

Multiply $- 20$ by $- 7$ .

$x = \frac{34 \pm \sqrt{1156 + 140}}{2 \cdot 5}$

Add $1156$ and $140$ .

$x = \frac{34 \pm \sqrt{1296}}{2 \cdot 5}$

Rewrite $1296$ as $36^{2}$ .

$x = \frac{34 \pm \sqrt{36^{2}}}{2 \cdot 5}$

Pull terms out from under the radical, assuming positive real numbers.

$x = \frac{34 \pm 36}{2 \cdot 5}$

Multiply $2$ by $5$ .

$x = \frac{34 \pm 36}{10}$

Simplify $\frac{34 \pm 36}{10}$ .

$x = \frac{17 \pm 18}{5}$

Step 4

The final answer is the combination of both solutions.

$x = 7, - \frac{1}{5}$