Thread: Synthetic Division Help

I usually know how to do Synthetic Division, but this one has my stumped. I'm not sure how to do it with the given divisor.


Here's the equation

(2x^3-17z^2+20x+6)/(2x-5)

Originally Posted by tony_rose88

I usually know how to do Synthetic Division, but this one has my stumped. I'm not sure how to do it with the given divisor.


Here's the equation

(2x^3-17z^2+20x+6)/(2x-5)

Synthetic division can only be done when the coefficient of x is 1. So:






So divide by .

-Dan

Hello, Tony!

You should have been shown how to handle these . . .

The divisor must have a leading coefficient of 1.
. . If the leading coefficient isn't 1, divide through by it.

So we have: .

We will use for our divisor.

Important!
Since we are dividing by one-half of the given divisor,
. . the quotient will be twice as large as it should be.
We will make the adjustment at the end.


The synthetic division looks like this:

. . .


The bottom says: .

But the quotient is twice as large as it should be ... remember?
. . The remainder is unaffected.

Therefore, the answer is: .