Question

Consider the equation, x2 3x + 4, where x represents a real number.a. Are the expressions x2 and 3x + 4 algebraically equivalent?b. The following table shows how we might "sift” through various values to assign to the variable symbol x in the hunt for values that would make the equation true.

Answer 1

(a)

The expression are equivalent to each ohter if both expressions give same value for all assign values of x. From the table it can be observed that both expression do not give same value for all values of x. Thus expression

$x^2$

and 3x + 4 are not eqivalent to each other.

(b)

From the table, it can be observed that values of the expression are equal for x = 4. So equation

$x^2=3x+4$

holds true for x = 4.