Synthetic divison

• Nov 4th 2007, 07:59 AM
OnMyWayToBeAMathProffesor
Synthetic divison
i am stuck on this problem for my pre calc class. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Suppose you want to divide $3x^4-2x^3+x^2-2x+5$ by $2x+3$. How might you change this problem so that synthetic division can be used to get the correct answer?

i know that synthetic division can only be used if it is $(x-c)$ because the coefficient of x may only be positive one. but thats it.

Thank you very much.
• Nov 4th 2007, 08:06 AM
SnipedYou
Solve for $2x + 3 = 0$ and then use synthetic division. If you don't know what that is here is a good link for it. (It is at the bottom of the page)

The Remainder Theorem
• Nov 4th 2007, 08:12 AM
OnMyWayToBeAMathProffesor
so i should divide $3x^4-2x^3+x^2-2x+5$ by $-3/2$?
• Nov 4th 2007, 08:19 AM
SnipedYou
Yes. Read the bottom of the link I gave you in the earlier post to know how to set it up.

Latex hint: For fractions try using \frac{a}{b} it will come out like this $\frac{a}{b}$
• Nov 4th 2007, 08:20 AM
OnMyWayToBeAMathProffesor