Thread: Finding a polynomial with degree, zeroes, and multiplicity

Question:
Find a polynomial f(x) of degree 6 such that 0,3 are zeroes of multiplicity 3 and f(2) = -24.

Can someone explain this step-by-step? what exactly is "multiplicity"?

Hello,

Originally Posted by mwok

Question:
Find a polynomial f(x) of degree 6 such that 0,3 are zeroes of multiplicity 3 and f(2) = -24.

Can someone explain this step-by-step? what exactly is "multiplicity"?

If a number a has a multiplicity b in a polynomial , it means that divides this polynomial.


So here,
that's how it works.

Now, substitute x=2 to find k !

I see.
How about if it was:
Find a polynomial f(x) of degree 5 such that 0,3 are zeroes of multiplicity 3 and f(2) = -24. (Notice the degree is now 5)

How would you solve this one?

Originally Posted by mwok

I see.
How about if it was:
Find a polynomial f(x) of degree 5 such that 0,3 are zeroes of multiplicity 3 and f(2) = -24. (Notice the degree is now 5)

How would you solve this one?

It is not possible.

Note that if the degree of a polynomial is n, there are at most 5 roots for it.

If a root a has a multiplicity of b, it's like you have b roots that are all equal to a.

In fact, if a has a multiplicity of b, you have

denots the (b-1)th derivative of f.




I replied to someone here : http://www.mathhelpforum.com/math-he...tiplicity.html dunno if it can give you another view on it