Solve the Quadratic Equation: x² + 5x + 4 = 0

This is a quadratic equation:

$x^2+5x+4=0 =0$

due to the fact that there is a quadratic term (meaning raised to the second power),

The first step in solving a quadratic equation is always arranging it in to a form where all terms on one side are ordered from the highest to the lowest power (in descending order from left to right) and 0 on the other side,

Then we can choose whether to solve it using the quadratic formula or by factoring/completing the square.

The equation in the problem is already arranged, so let's proceed to solve it using the quadratic formula.

Remember:

The rule states that the roots of an equation of the form:

$ax^2+bx+c=0$

are:

$x_{1,2}=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}$

(meaning its solutions, the two possible values of the unknown for which we obtain a true statement when inserted into the equation)

$$This formula is called: "The Quadratic Formula"

Let's return to the problem:

$x^2+5x+4=0 =0$

And solve it:

First, let's identify the coefficients of the terms:

$\begin{cases}a=1 \\ b=5 \\ c=4\end{cases}$

where we noted that the coefficient of the quadratic term is 1,

We obtain the solutions of the equation (its roots) by insertion we just identified into the quadratic formula:

$x_{1,2}=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}=\frac{-5\pm\sqrt{5^2-4\cdot1\cdot4}}{2\cdot1}$

Let's continue to calculate the expression inside of the square root and simplify the expression:

$x_{1,2}=\frac{-5\pm\sqrt{9}}{2}=\frac{-5\pm3}{2}$

Therefore the solutions of the equation are:

$$$\begin{cases}x_1=\frac{-5+3}{2}=-1 \\ x_2=\frac{-5-3}{2}=-4\end{cases}$

Therefore the correct answer is answer C.