Real Quadratic Equation With Complex Roots

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My textbook(Year 12 Cambridge Mathematics Extension 2) provides me with the formula in box 11: enter image description here

This is for quadratic equations with real coefficients. However, the textbook then asks me to use box 11 for:

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Every quadratic in the question has at least one complex coefficient. How can I use this method in this case? Am I missing something or has the textbook made an error? Thanks to anyone who can help:)