Solve Using the Quadratic Formula x^2=x-1

$x^{2} = x - 1$

Step 1

Move all the expressions to the left side of the equation.

Subtract $x$ from both sides of the equation.

$x^{2} - x = - 1$

Add $1$ to both sides of the equation.

$x^{2} - x + 1 = 0$

Step 2

Use the quadratic formula to find the solutions.

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

Step 3

Substitute the values $a = 1$ , $b = - 1$ , and $c = 1$ into the quadratic formula and solve for $x$ .

$\frac{1 \pm \sqrt{{(- 1)}^{2} - 4 \cdot (1 \cdot 1)}}{2 \cdot 1}$

Step 4

Simplify.

Simplify the numerator.

Raise $- 1$ to the power of $2$ .

$x = \frac{1 \pm \sqrt{1 - 4 \cdot 1 \cdot 1}}{2 \cdot 1}$

Multiply $- 4 \cdot 1 \cdot 1$ .

Multiply $- 4$ by $1$ .

$x = \frac{1 \pm \sqrt{1 - 4 \cdot 1}}{2 \cdot 1}$

Multiply $- 4$ by $1$ .

$x = \frac{1 \pm \sqrt{1 - 4}}{2 \cdot 1}$

Subtract $4$ from $1$ .

$x = \frac{1 \pm \sqrt{- 3}}{2 \cdot 1}$

Rewrite $- 3$ as $- 1 (3)$ .

$x = \frac{1 \pm \sqrt{- 1 \cdot 3}}{2 \cdot 1}$

Rewrite $\sqrt{- 1 (3)}$ as $\sqrt{- 1} \cdot \sqrt{3}$ .

$x = \frac{1 \pm \sqrt{- 1} \cdot \sqrt{3}}{2 \cdot 1}$

Rewrite $\sqrt{- 1}$ as $i$ .

$x = \frac{1 \pm i \sqrt{3}}{2 \cdot 1}$

Multiply $2$ by $1$ .

$x = \frac{1 \pm i \sqrt{3}}{2}$