Question

how do you decide where the solutions are of a graph of a quadratic equation?

Answer 1

Solutions are just where the graph crosses the y and x axis.

Answer 2

depending on the sign of the points of (x,y)

Answer 3

The sign does matter, but you could have a parabola cross the x axis at 2 points and maybe even have one that crosses the y axis at 2 points. Ummm, do you have a specific question I could use as an example?

Answer 4

For instance, the graph of x^2 - 1 looks like this

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=y+%3D+x%5E2+-+1

You can see that it crosses the x axis at -1 and 1 and the y axis at -1 which are the "solutions" to the equation. Hopefully that helps.