An efficient algorithm for computing the roots of general quadratic, cubic and quartic equations

Abstract

While the solution to deriving the roots of the general quadratic equation is adequately covered in a typical classroom environment, the same is not true for the general cubic and quartic equations. To the best of our knowledge, we do not see the roots of the general cubic or quartic equation discussed in any typical algebra textbook at the undergraduate level. In this paper, we propose an efficient algorithm in order to calculate the roots of the general quadratic, cubic and quartic equations. Examples are given to demonstrate the usefulness of this proposed algorithm.