So I am making a quadratic solver program to help out in my math class, but I have run into a problem.
(-B+√(B²–4AC))/(2A)
This equation will correctly find the roots of a quadratic equation when entered on the home screen (A, B, and C are all stored values). However, the results of the same equation with the same values are different when read by the program interpreter. Does anybody know why or how to get around this?
The formula should be interpreted in exactly the same way in a program as on the home screen. Can you please put your code here so we can see if there is a problem? Don't forget that you also need the "-sqrt(..." part.
I don't have my link cable right now but I can post the code later at some point. What is the "-sqrt(..." part? Is that some obscure command or something?
No, the solutions of the equation are both (-B+sqrt(B^2-4AC))/(2A) and (-B-sqrt(B^2-4AC))/(2A). I don't think that is the error though.
Kydapoot wrote:
I don't have my link cable right now but I can post the code later at some point. What is the "-sqrt(..." part? Is that some obscure command or something?
Oh, you meant square root. And yes, I have both versions of the equation.
-sqrt( is the minus part of the plus or minus the square root of b squared minus 4ac
(-B+√(B²–4AC))/(2A)→E
and
(-B–√(B²–4AC))/(2A)→F
are my equations.
What are the different answers that you get in the program and on the home screen?
Now its acting up differently. It works correctly most of the time, but when A is positive, B is O, and C is positive it gives error data type upon storing into E through the equation.
Kydapoot wrote:
Now its acting up differently. It works correctly most of the time, but when A is positive, B is O, and C is positive it gives error data type upon storing into E through the equation.
That is probably because the result is complex in that case. I'm not exactly sure why it would throw an Error: Data Type since the real variables can also be complex variables, but it might have something to do with how you are processing the result. What do you mean by "storing into E through the equation" exactly?
Try this and see if it works:
Code: Prompt A,B,C
sqrt(B²-4AC
({Ans,~Ans}-B)/(2A
It worked! I don't know why it was acting up before but my calc has always been a bit buggy.
By storing E I meant I plugged a b and c into the quadratic formula and stored the result to e, but that's irrelevant now anyway.
Did it start working without you changing a single piece of code? That sounds like very strange behavior.
Upon further testing, it is actually not working. Jonbush's solution worked for a couple of simple ones but solved most equations incorrectly.
See what happens when you set the calculator to complex mode (a+bi).
