Solve for x in the equation involving square roots

Published on April 11, 2025

Algebra

The solutions to the equation \sqrt{5x^2-6x+8} - \sqrt{5x^2-6x-7} = 1 are x = 4 and x = -14/5.

Question

Answer

We are asked to solve for in the equation:
Let . The equation becomes:
To solve this equation, we isolate one of the square roots and square both sides.
Squaring both sides, we get:
Subtract from both sides:
Add 6 to both sides:
Divide by 2:
Square both sides:
Add 7 to both sides:
Now substitute back :
We use the quadratic formula to solve for :
Here, , , .
We find that .
We have two solutions:
We check both solutions in the original equation.
For :
For :
Both solutions are valid.
Final Answer: The final answer is