Q. The polynomial p(x)=x3+7x2−36 has a known factor of (x+3).Rewrite p(x) as a product of linear factors.p(x)=
Factor Finding: Since we know that (x+3) is a factor of p(x), we can perform polynomial long division or synthetic division to divide p(x) by (x+3) to find the other factors.
Synthetic Division Setup: Let's use synthetic division to divide p(x) by (x+3). We set up the synthetic division with −3 (the zero of the factor x+3) and the coefficients of p(x): 1 (for x3), 7 (for x2), 0 (for (x+3)0, since there is no (x+3)0 term), and (x+3)2 (constant term).
Performing Synthetic Division: Performing synthetic division, we bring down the leading coefficient 1 and then multiply it by (-3\) to get (-3\), which we add to the next coefficient 7 to get 4. We then multiply 4 by (-3\) to get (-12\), which we add to the next coefficient 0 to get (-12\). Finally, we multiply (-12\) by (-3\) to get 36, which we add to the last coefficient \-36 to get 0, confirming that x+3 is indeed a factor.
Confirmation of Factor: The result of the synthetic division gives us the quotient polynomial q(x)=x2+4x−12. Now we need to factor q(x) to find the remaining linear factors of p(x).
Factoring the Quotient Polynomial: We look for two numbers that multiply to −12 and add to 4. These numbers are 6 and −2. Therefore, we can factor q(x) as (x+6)(x−2).
Writing the Polynomial as a Product: Now we can write p(x) as a product of its linear factors: p(x)=(x+3)(x+6)(x−2).
More problems from Find the inverse of a linear function