Question

the sum of a no.and it's reciprocal is 17/4.find numbers

Answer 1

x+1/x=17/4
put x=4
2nd method
multiply both sides by x. 
x^2 + 1 = 17x/4 
x^2 - 17x/4 + 1 = 0 
multiply both sides by 4. 
4x^2 - 17x + 4 =0, now it became a quadratic equation. 
use quadratic formula 
x = [-b +/-sqrt(b^2 - 4ac)] / (2a) and find the value for x.