Shows how to solve an equation of the form ax^4+bx^2+c=0 by first making the substitution u = x^2 so that the associated quadratic equation in terms of u can be solved first, using the quadratic formula. It is then easy to find the values of x, by first substituting back x^2 for u.

Solving an equation of the form ax^4+bx^2+c=0 (MathsCasts)

These MathsCasts were produced by the mathematics support centres at Swinburne University, the University of Limerick and Loughborough University. They were part of a collaborative research project to develop high quality resources and investigate the effectiveness of MathsCasts to support mathematics learning. The full set of resources are available at http://commons.swin.edu.au/s/mathscasts MathsCasts are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

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Solving an equation of the form ax^4+bx^2+c=0 (MathsCasts)

Solving an equation of the form ax^4+bx^2+c=0 (MathsCasts)