Thread: Division of polynomials

Alrighty...

This is for my college beginning algebra class..

and i am incredibly mathmatically challenged. I dont even know my times tables, it's that bad.

But anyway.

Is there any way other than long division to divide polynomials?

Long division does not do well with my head and i dont understand it at all.

If not, is there a very good website or something (other than purplemath)

that shows everything step by step. (not skipping any)

the specific problem im havin is..

x^2 + 4x + 3
------------
x + 3

Math is so hard =(

Thanks

~Cait

Originally Posted by Cait

Alrighty...

This is for my college beginning algebra class..

and i am incredibly mathmatically challenged. I dont even know my times tables, it's that bad.

But anyway.

Is there any way other than long division to divide polynomials?

Long division does not do well with my head and i dont understand it at all.

If not, is there a very good website or something (other than purplemath)

that shows everything step by step. (not skipping any)

the specific problem im havin is..

x^2 + 4x + 3
------------
x + 3

Math is so hard =(

Thanks

~Cait

there is another method called synthetic division, you can look it up, i'll try to find a site for you

Originally Posted by Cait

and i am incredibly mathmatically challenged. I dont even know my times tables, it's that bad.

Here is a times table.

you said you don't want purple math, but i think they have a good tutorial on synthetic division. here are others:

College Algebra Tutorial on Synthetic Divsion

Polynomial Functions - Synthetic Division

Synthetic Division -- from Wolfram MathWorld

Synthetic Division

Synthetic Division Intro

Interactive Mathematics by Kunio Mitsuma, Ph.D.

Originally Posted by ThePerfectHacker

Here is a times table.

lol

Originally Posted by ThePerfectHacker

Here is a times table.

+1 post count?

Believe me, I have many times tables. I have that that goes out to like 74 i think...

but anyway,

Jhevon - Thanks for showing me Synthetic Divsion. My math book doesnt show how to do this method. I'll have to try it and see if it works better for me

And i also meant i didn't want purplemath's long divison :3 I checked out their synthetic.. and it seems good, so ill print this one out too.


~Cait

Originally Posted by Cait

x^2 + 4x + 3
------------
x + 3

we want to divide by x + 3, so we put -3 at the topmost left

-3

then in the same line we put the coefficients of the polynomial we want to divide

-3...|..1..|..4..|..3

1 is the coefficient of x^2, 4 is the coefficient of x and 3 is the constant (the coefficient of x^0)

now we start with 0 under the 1

-3...|..1..|..4..|..3
......|..0
......------------------

now we add the 1 and 0, we get:


-3...|..1..|..4..|..3
......|..0
......------------------
..........1

then we multiply the 1 and -3 and get -3 and we place that under the 4:


-3...|..1..|..4..|..3
......|..0..|..-3
......------------------
..........1

and then we do it over and over until we get to the end. so i add 4 and -3 to get 1, then multiply 1 by -3 to get -3, and place that under the 3, then i add -3 to 3 to get 0.

-3...|..1..|..4..|..3
......|..0..|..-3.|.-3
......------------------
..........1..|..1..|..0

now the resulting line is the coeffcients of x counting down, starting with one less that the power of the original polynomial.

so 1 is the coefficient of x, 1 is the coefficient of x^0 (or a constant) and the last number in this line is the remainder, which is zero

so the answer is: x^2 + 4x + 3 / x + 3 = x + 1 and remainder 0

Math is so hard =(

it gets easier with practice and a good attitude, do a lot of problems and smile and be happy about it

if you don't get something i did, tell me

it gets easier with practice and a good attitude, do a lot of problems and smile and be happy about it

Meh, you're telling this to an 18 year old who doesnt know 4x3 without doin it on her fingers!!!!!!

but anyway.. synthetic divsion worked fine for problems like that.. but i couldnt get it to work with an extra coefficient thrown in there..

(example: 8x^2+10x+1 / 2x+1 )

(However... on these kind of problems i asked my dad and now i get it (long division)... for the most part.. hopefully ill still get it for my exam tomarrow......)


But anyway.. so now im out of this section on to another section.. and another post about... factoring binomials!... woo