| Systems of Non-Linear Equations | Non-Linear Equations Application Problems |
(Note that solving Trigonometric (Non-Linear) Systems of Equations can be found here).
We learned how to solve linear equations here in the Systems of Linear Equations and Word Problems Section. Sometimes we need solve systems of non-linear equations, such as those we see in conics.
We can use either Substitution or Elimination, depending on what’s easier. The main difference is that we’ll usually end up getting two (or more!) answers for a variable (since we may be dealing with quadratics or higher degree polynomials), and we need to plug in answers to get the other variable. So we’ll typically have multiple sets of answers with non-linear systems.
Here are some examples. Note that we could use factoring to solve the quadratics, but sometimes we will need to use the Quadratic Formula.
You can also use your graphing calculator to solve a non-linear systems problem:
Non-Linear Equations Application Problems
Here are a few Non-Linear Systems application problems.
Learn these rules, and practice, practice, practice! On to Introduction to Vectors – you are ready!