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If one root r of a polynomial P(x) of degree n is known then polynomial long division can be used to factor P(x) into the form (x − r)Q(x) where Q(x) is a polynomial of degree n − 1. Q ( x ) is simply the quotient obtained from the division process; since r is known to be a root of P ( x ), it is known that the remainder must be zero.
In algebra, synthetic division is a method for manually performing Euclidean division of polynomials, with less writing and fewer calculations than long division. It is mostly taught for division by linear monic polynomials (known as Ruffini's rule ), but the method can be generalized to division by any polynomial .
Zero divided by a negative or positive number is either zero or is expressed as a fraction with zero as numerator and the finite quantity as denominator. Zero divided by zero is zero. In 830, Mahāvīra unsuccessfully tried to correct the mistake Brahmagupta made in his book Ganita Sara Samgraha : "A number remains unchanged when divided by zero."
Thus, the function may be more "cheaply" evaluated using synthetic division and the polynomial remainder theorem. The factor theorem is another application of the remainder theorem: if the remainder is zero, then the linear divisor is a factor. Repeated application of the factor theorem may be used to factorize the polynomial. [3]
Ruffini's rule can be used when one needs the quotient of a polynomial P by a binomial of the form . (When one needs only the remainder, the polynomial remainder theorem provides a simpler method.) A typical example, where one needs the quotient, is the factorization of a polynomial p ( x ) {\displaystyle p(x)} for which one knows a root r :
Euclidean division of polynomials is very similar to Euclidean division of integers and leads to polynomial remainders. Its existence is based on the following theorem: Given two univariate polynomials a ( x ) and b ( x ) (where b ( x ) is a non-zero polynomial) defined over a field (in particular, the reals or complex numbers ), there exist ...
The largest zero of this polynomial which corresponds to the second largest zero of the original polynomial is found at 3 and is circled in red. The degree 5 polynomial is now divided by () to obtain = + + which is shown in yellow. The zero for this polynomial is found at 2 again using Newton's method and is circled in yellow.
Rather, the degree of the zero polynomial is either left explicitly undefined, or defined as negative (either −1 or −∞). [10] The zero polynomial is also unique in that it is the only polynomial in one indeterminate that has an infinite number of roots. The graph of the zero polynomial, f(x) = 0, is the x-axis.