Thomas A

CAT Preparation Community 4y ago

What is the number of real solutions of the equation x^2 - 7|x| - 18 = 0? a) 2 b) 4 c) 3 d) 1

3

Shreyas Sehgal 4y ago

In my opinion, it is 4: first take x2 - 7x - 18 and solve , you get x=-2 and 9, then take x2+7x-18 and solve, you get x=+2 and -9. Hence 4. (Mod x means you can take one time +ve and one time -ve as per basic definition of mod)

Arnav Gandhi 4y ago

Hi |x|= x for x>=0 so we get x^2-7x-18 =0 so we get (x-9)(x+2) =0 but x cannot be less than 0 so x is 9 now |x| =-x for x<0 we get x^2+7x-18=0 we get (x+9)(x-2) =0 we get x as -9 as x=2 >0 which is not possible so we get 2 solutions

Vidushi Razdan 4y ago

@shreyas -9 and 9 will be the only two solutions no, +2 and -2 will be rejected as x&lt;0 and x&gt;0 respectively.

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