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Solving it by hand gives an exact answer, which in some contexts, might be preferable. Forman Acton, in his classic book, Numerical Methods That Work, uses the
by itazula 12y ago
Solving it by hand gives an exact answer, which in some contexts, might be preferable. Forman Acton, in his classic book, Numerical Methods That Work, uses the quadratic formula as an example to illustrate how a computer can give a wildly incorrect solution.
- gizmo686 12y agoComputer algebra systems can symbolicly solve quadratics precisly (think Mathematica).
- arikrak 12y agoRight. Anything that a human can solve by following simple mechanical steps can be easily done by a computer. (See Turing's definition of computability.) Many people now are just following simple mechanical steps without understanding. They may as well use Mathematica or Wolfram|Alpha for such simple problems http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=12x%5E2%2B2x-30%3D0 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=12x%5E2%2B2x-30%3D0 They should focus on learning how to convert real problems into a format Wolfram|Alpha can understand.