Division of polynomials.

Long division of polynomials is very similar to long division of whole numbers that you
learned in grade school
7 8 5 R2 2x2 +9x +31 R 98
3 2 3 5 7 x–3 2x3 +3x2 +4x +5
2 1 2x3 –6x2
2 5 9x2 +4x
2 4 9x2 –27x
1 7 31x +5
1 5 31x –93
2 98

Notice that when we are dividing by a polynomial like x–3 we end up subtracting
negative numbers.
5 – –93 = 5 + 93 = 98.
Also notice that the numbers in the polynomial division have a lot of repeats!
If we eliminate the repeating numbers we get something like this:
2x2 +9x +31 R 98
x–3 2x3 +3x2 +4x +5
–6x2

–27x

–93
98
Now we strip out all of the x’s and let the columns represent the x powers
2 +9 +31 R 98
–3 2 +3 +4 +5
–6

–27

–93
98
We don’t like subtracting negative numbers. It gets confusing. So we change the
negative numbers to positive and add. We also eliminate the empty space and make
our calculations more compact
2 +9 +31 98
+3 2 +3 +4 +5
+6 +27 +93

This is a little bit awkward because our addition results are on the top so we do some
rearrangement:
3 2 3 4 5
6 27 93
2 9 31 98
We have just invented a new way to divide polynomials called synthetic division.
Here is a step by step description of how we do synthetic division:
1. We are only going to use this to divide by polynomials like x–3 that is x minus a
number. We write the number down
3
2. We write the numeric parts of the polynomial that we are dividing and leave out
the x’s. We use 0 for any powers of x that are missing.
2 3 4 5
3. We bring the first number in the dividend (2 3 4 5) down.
4. We multiply the result in the bottom row by the divisor (3) and get 6. We put the
6 in the next column.
5. We add the numbers in the column (3+6) and put the result (9) at the bottom.
6. We repeat steps 4 and 5 until we run out of numbers.
7. We interpret the results as follows: All of the numbers on the bottom row except
the last number are the coefficients of the quotient polynomial (2 9 31) represents
2x2+9x+31. The last number in the bottom row (98) is the remainder.
This is actually much easier than long division.
In summary:

3 2 3 4 5 3 2 3 4 5 3 2 3 4 5
6
2 2
Write the numbers Bring the first Multiply the number on
down number down the bottom by the divisor
and write the result in
the next column

3 2 3 4 5 3 2 3 4 5 3 2 3 4 5
6 6 27 6 27
2 9 2 9 2 9 31
Add 3+6=9 Multiply 3*9=27 Add 4+27 =31

3 2 3 4 5 3 2 3 4 5
6 27 93 6 27 93
2 9 31 2 9 31 98
Multiply 3*31=93 Add 5+93=98

This is the way we will usually divide.

Q(x R
x–r P(X) Means the same as P(x) = (x–r)Q(x)+R

Now what if we evaluate P(r)? P(r) = (r–r)Q(r)+R = P(r) = (0)Q(r)+R = R.

This gives us the remainder theorem:

Remainder Theorem:
When P(x) is divided by x–r the remainder is P(r).
Recall that Algebra is about solving equations. Our basic method is to simplify and
restore the balance. For polynomials we also use something called the zero factor
property:

Zero factor property:

If A x B = 0 then either A = 0 or B = 0.
i.e. If you multiply two numbers A and B and the result is zero then either
A is zero or B is zero

If we can convert our polynomial equations to the form P(x) = 0 and then factor the
polynomial we can solve the equation.

For example let’s solve this equation: 7x2 = x3+7x+15.

First we convert the equation to P(x) = 0 form by subtracting 7x2 from both sides:

x3– 7x2 +7x + 15 = 0.

How do we factor a cubic polynomial? We want to look for a factor in the form x minus
a number x–r. What should we use for r? We are basically guessing here, but there is
a theorem which helps us with our guess: The rational zero theorem.

Rational Zero Theorem:

If p/q is a rational number in lowest form,
And if P(x) = Axn + Bxn–1 + … + Yx + Z and if P(p/q) = 0
then p is a factor of Z and q is a factor of A

For our polynomial x3– 7x2 +7x + 15, A=1 and Z = 15.
The factors of A=1 are ± 1. The factors of Z=15 are ±15, ±5, ±3, ±1.
So the possible p/q combinations are ±15, ±5, ±3, ±1.
Smaller numbers are easier to work with so we try 1 first and then –1
Trying 1:

1 1 –7 7 15
1 –6 1
1 –6 1 16
We got a remainder of 16 so x–1 is NOT a factor of x3– 7x2 +7x + 15
Now try –1:

–1 1 –7 7 15
–1 8 –15
1 –8 15 0
We got a remainder of 0 so (x – –1) = (x+1) is a factor of x3– 7x2 +7x + 15
x3– 7x2 +7x + 15 = (x+1)( x2–8x + 15).
Now, can we factor x2–8x + 15? We will need factors of 15 which add up to –8.
–3 and –5 work: –3 + –5 = –8 and: –3 x –5 = 15.
Thus x2–8x + 15 = (x–3) (x–5) and we can rewrite our original polynomial as
x3– 7x2 +7x + 15 = (x+1)(x–3)(x–5)
Now (x+1)(x–3)(x–5) = 0 when (x+1)=0 or (x–3) = 0 or (x–5) = 0
x+1 = 0 => x=–1
x–3 = 0 => x = 3
x–5 = 0 => x = 5
Therefore, the solutions to our problem are x ε {–1, 3, 5}
Note that we could also use synthetic division to find the factors of x2–8x + 15 instead of
factoring the quadratic.

3 1 –8 15
3 –15
1 –5 0

5 1 –8 15
5 –15
1 –3 0

We can also use synthetic division to check that our solutions work in the original
polynomial:

3 1 –7 7 15
3 –12 –15
1 –4 –5 0

5 1 –7 7 15
5 –10 –15
1 –2 –3 0
If we look at the graph of y=P(x) = x3– 7x2 +7x + 15 we get this result:

P(x)
30

20

10

0
-2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
-10

-20

-30
P(x)

And we can see that our three solutions match the three places that the graph crosses
the x-axis