1951 AHSME Problems/Problem 16

Problem

If in applying the quadratic formula to a quadratic equation

$f(x) \equiv ax^2 + bx + c = 0,$

it happens that $c = \frac{b^2}{4a}$ , then the graph of $y = f(x)$ will certainly:

$\mathrm{(A) \ have\ a\ maximum } \qquad \mathrm{(B) \ have\ a\ minimum} \qquad$ $\mathrm{(C) \ be\ tangent\ to\ the\ x-axis} \qquad$ $\mathrm{(D) \ be\ tangent\ to\ the\ y-axis} \qquad$ $\mathrm{(E) \ lie\ in\ one\ quadrant\ only}$

Solution

The discriminant of the quadratic equation is $b^2 - 4ac = b^2 - 4a\left(\frac{b^2}{4a}\right) = 0$ . This indicates that the equation has only one root (applying the quadratic formula, we get $x = \frac{-b + \sqrt{0}}{2a} = -b/2a$ ). Thus it follows that $f(x)$ touches the x-axis exactly once, and hence is tangent to the x-axis $\Rightarrow \mathrm{(C)}$ .

1951 AHSC (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 15	Followed by Problem 17
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1951 AHSME Problems/Problem 16

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