A “Stencil Method” for solving quadratics of the type that have real roots
By Albert us Smith
About ten years ago I derived the relationships between the values of a, b, and c in the equation for parabolas of the type
y =
and the values of the coordinates of the fixed point (h, k) and the constant n from the equation of the fixed line (parallel to the x-axis) y = n that determined such parabolic loci in the Cartesian plane (see part 2, Validation of the Stencil Method) My interest at the time was to provide a solid, early appreciation of the properties of the parabolic function for a group of accelerated students in elementary algebra in conjunction with the consideration of the solution of quadratic equation in a single variable.
The idea of constructing a parabolic stencil that might be used to solve any quadratic of the type
rather naturally suggested itself once I had pointed out to the students that the specific shape of any parabola of the type
y =
was determined solely by the value of a, the coefficient of the second-degree term. The distance between the fixed point and fixed line determines the specific shape of any parabola, and we had demonstrated that the value of a was inversely related to k-n, the distance between the fixed point and the fixed line (see part 2).
This meant that a parabolic stencil constructed from y = would have exactly the same shape as any other parabola of the type
y =
and that solution of equations of the type = 0 might quite accurately be determined by
1. Finding the coordinates of the low (or high) point of a given parabolic curve,
2. Placing the tip of the stencil at that point (vertically aligned), and
3. Tracing around the stencil with a fine pencil or ball-point pen to obtain approximate roots of the given equation at the points where the curve cut the x-axis.
Since any quadratic of the type
Could be converted into a quadratic of the type
= 0,
Then the single stencil could be used to determine the roots of any quadratic of this type, since the roots of the given equation would not be affected by dividing both members of the given equation by a.
To my pleasant surprise the students recognized this lad method not only as a reassuring verification of the theory they were studying but also as a refinement of the graphical method given in their textbook.
Since I also had a section of not-so-highly motivated students as part of my daily.