Talk:Equation solving

Line 8
line 8 seems very strange (incorrect even), with a's on the left and x's on the right; how was this really meant to be ?

Below the bold section title 'solution set' there is an invitation to the link 'solution set'; this seems not quite sensefull  at that location


 * Whoops! Fixed line 8. Thanks Dysprosia 22:32, 19 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Fractional Expression Equations
Where can I find solving fractional expression equations? This (equations with algebraic expressions in the denominator) is an Algebra II topic. I have a merger algorithm to combine fractions from Vedic Mathematics. Larry R. Holmgren 05:46, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

In principal, there should be a link to Unification_(computer_science), where equation solving in term algebras is discussed. However, it may be wise to wait until that article is better structured. Jochen Burghardt (talk) 06:40, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

Po-Shen Loh: A different method to solve any quadratic equation ...
I recently ran across this interesting video on what appears to be a NEW method to solve ANY quadratic equation which I think is interesting: youtube/ZBalWWHYFQc

This guy, Po-Shen Loh, is a professor (PhD) of mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University so "not a crackpot" apparently. I also went to his website (www.poshenloh.com) where there is another video in which he explains the process in much more detail including all the underlying logic and foundational knowledge required to think about the process: youtube/XKBX0r3J-9Y

If the claims in this video are correct (and I have no reason to doubt it at this time) then Po-Shen Loh has discovered something both elementary and foundational that has apparently eluded discovery for a long time due to its utterly simple nature. You might say this was a method hiding in plain sight.

He mentions on his website that he subsequently was informed that another person apparently discovered almost (but not quite) the exact same idea in 1989 but even 1989 is rather recent in the entire history of algebra so again I think it is interesting it has taken so long for somebody to discover this particular method.

172.88.130.119 (talk) 13:44, 16 December 2019 (UTC)


 * It wouldn't be an appropriate addition to this article as it only works on quadratic equations and isn't even a particularly common method for solving them, and so it isn't important enough to be in this broad article. I also believe the videos exaggerate how important the finding is, which is one reason for the policy of WP:SECONDARY. A more plausible reason that it "eluded discovery" is that nobody was looking for it - there are already methods to solve quadratic equations that work every time so this isn't important to mathematicians at all. Worth a mention on Po-Shen Loh due to its potential utility in teaching (as it feels less arbitrary than other methods) but here it is irrelevant. TWM03 (talk) 14:07, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
 * It eluded discovery because it was already considered as a well known or obvious variant. I don't think it ever fails to work, as it's another way to organize completing the square and gives the same end result. Sesquivalent (talk) 23:24, 14 September 2021 (UTC)