The document introduces the quadratic formula, which can be used to solve any quadratic equation of the form ax^2 + bx + c = 0. It provides an example of using the quadratic formula to solve the equation 2x^2 + 7x - 5 = 0. The quadratic formula is given as x = (-b ± √(b^2 - 4ac)) / 2a, where a is the coefficient of x^2, b is the coefficient of x, and c is the constant term. The example works through applying this formula step-by-step to find the two solutions for the example equation.