Quadratics:
A quadratic function is given in the form of ax^2+bx+c. Lets say we have a function like: f(x) (this is the same thing as y = ) = x^2+2x-8 and we want to know for what values of x does x = 0? Here's how we do this. If you've learned it, you can simply just plug in the giving numbers into the quadratic formula. Where a = 1 b = 4 and c = -8. OR we can think of it like this. For two numbers when multiplied and added together give us the value of -8 AND a positive 4?
The numbers that result in -8 and 4 are:
(4 time -2) = -8
(4+ -2) = 2
So, we can write them like this: (x+4)(x-2). If we go ahead and foil these out, we see that These 2 factors give us back our original function of x^2+2x-8.
We can go ahead and solve these:
x+4 = 0
x-2 = 0
So x = -4 AND x = 2.
I know that Algebra can be tough, so don't give up! Just keep working at until everything actually clicks and makes sense. Everyone has been in your shoes at some point when learning this stuff. So just keep trying and I guarantee that you'll get this stuff.