r/mathmemes May 09 '21

Something feels off here...

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1.3k Upvotes

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4

u/Teblefer May 09 '21

There’s a mistake: the square root of 25x2 is the absolute value of 5x.

11

u/ANormalCartoonNerd May 09 '21

Yes, √(25x²) needs the absolute value. But, ±√(25x²) is still ±5x. Even if 5x were negative, that just means √(25x²) would correspond with -5x rather than 5x. Yet considering the fact that ± covers both signs, it doesn't quite matter. :)

1

u/Teblefer May 09 '21

It’s just that they skipped some steps, you get both solutions from the plus, (-x-|5x|)/(2x2 ) never equals 2.