Professional Documents
Culture Documents
All polynomials have a certain degree. The degree of a polynomial can be determined by the
largest exponent in the expression.
Remember: If you see this notation, you can replace the f (x) with a y.
𝒇 𝒙 = 𝟔𝒙 + 𝟐 Really means 𝒚 = 𝟔𝒙 + 𝟐
Please Note:
The function will not always be called f (x) any letter could be used such as g(x) or h(x).
Adding and subtracting polynomials it is much like adding and subtracting integers.
________ Oranges ( 𝑥 2 )
________ Lemons ( y )
The Sum of the fruit is: ____ Apples + ____ Oranges + ____ Lemons
Here are some practice problems: we are doing the exact same thing.
1. 2𝑥 + 3𝑥 2 + 4 + 5𝑥 + 3 =
2. 4𝑥 2 + 3𝑥 − 2𝑥 2 =
3. −2𝑥 + 17 + 2𝑥 2 + 𝑥 − 13 =
Given: 𝒇 𝒙 = 𝟐𝒙 + 𝟓 𝒈 𝒙 = 𝒙𝟐 − 𝟑𝒙 + 𝟕.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝟐𝒙 ∙ 𝟑𝒙?
When asked this question, most high school students, and faculty answered either 5x or 6x.
Neither one of these is correct.
Recall that when a coefficient is placed before a variable, this indicates that both numbers are
being multiplied.
Also remember the commutative property of multiplication that the order of terms being
multiplied in an expression does not matter.
Now once we multiply the numbers and multiply the variables, we are left with:
𝟔 ∙ 𝒙𝟐 = 𝟔𝒙𝟐
That is the fundamental process but just remember to multiply each term within the expression.
Practice Problems:
1) 4𝑥 ∙ 8 =
2) 3𝑦 ∙ 2𝑦 =
3) 5𝑥 ∙ 6𝑦 =
4) 3𝑥 2 ∙ 6𝑥 =
5) 𝑦 2 ∙ 2𝑥 =
Now we get a little more complicated, we will begin by multiplying binomials. A binomial is
simply a polynomial that only has 2 terms being added or subtracted.
We are going to “FOIL” this expression to break it down into core components.
FOIL is an acronym that explains the order of parts to multiply in the equation
𝟐𝒙𝟐 − 𝟒𝒙 + 𝒙 − 𝟐
𝟐𝒙𝟐 − 𝟑𝒙 − 𝟐
Practice Problems:
1) 𝟑𝒙 + 𝟐 (𝒙 − 𝟐)
2) 𝒙 + 𝟐 (𝒙 − 𝟐)
3) 𝟒𝒙𝟐 + 𝟑𝒙 (𝟏 − 𝒙𝟐 )
Factoring is the process of breaking a number or expression into simpler components or factors,
that when multiplied together equal the original expression. In a sense this will be the opposite of
multiplication, in that we are taking the “answer” (polynomial) and changing it back into the
simplest parts that can be multiplied together (factors).
𝟐𝟒 = 𝟏 ∙ 𝟐𝟒 = 𝟐 ∙ 𝟏𝟐 = 𝟑 ∙ 𝟖 = (𝟔 ∙ 𝟒)
As you can see there are several combinations of factors that multiply to give us the common
product of 24.
Just Remember that when we are factoring we want to get the simplest components possible.
If we factor out the 2 from both terms it can be written as: 𝟐(𝒙 + 𝟐)
Not only are we looking for common factors, we are trying to find the Greatest Common Factor.
𝟖𝒙𝟐 − 𝟒𝒙 + 𝟏𝟔𝒙𝒚
Which terms are common in each part of the expression?
You’ll notice that we have an 8, -4, and 16. These can all be evenly divided by 4.
𝟒(𝟐𝒙𝟐 − 𝒙 + 𝟒𝒙𝒚)
Next look at the variables, any common variables can be pulled outside the expression.
The common variable here is x. We can only pull out an x and not a y because only one of
the terms contains a y.
𝟒𝒙(𝟐𝒙 − 𝟏 + 𝟒𝒚)
1) 𝟑𝒙 + 𝟗
2) 𝟐𝒙𝟐 − 𝟒𝒙 + 𝟏𝟐
4) 𝟑𝟒𝒙 + 𝟒𝒙𝒚 + 𝟔𝒙 + 𝟖
5) 𝟐𝒙 (𝟑𝒙 + 𝟏𝟓)
Another method we can use when factoring is when we are given an expression like:
𝒂𝟐 − 𝒃𝟐
We call this the difference of two squares method. As you can see above, 𝒂𝟐 and 𝒃𝟐 are going
to be perfect squares such as 16 or 25. And they are being subtracted so that is a difference.
𝒂 + 𝒃 ∙ (𝒂 − 𝒃)
We can say that to factor the difference of two squares, we take the sum and difference of the
bases and multiply them.
Proof:
If we FOIL out this product we get: 𝒂𝟐 − 𝒂𝒃 + 𝒂𝒃 − 𝒃𝟐 the middle terms cancel and we are
left with our original difference of two perfect squares.
Same deal, only this time instead of something squared in the second term we have a 16
The final way to factor a polynomial expression we are going to look at is how to factor
Quadratic Expressions.
The quadratics we will be taking a look at are also known as trinomials. A trinomial, is a type of
polynomial expression that has 3 terms.
We will be taking each trinomial and changing it into the product of two binomials.
𝒙𝟐 − 𝟑𝒙 − 𝟒 = 𝒙 + 𝟏 (𝒙 − 𝟒)
𝒙𝟐 + 𝟓𝒙 + 𝟔
With this information in mind, if we were only given this product, how do we factor it?
2) The First Terms are the factors of the first term in the quadratic: 𝒙𝟐 = 𝒙 ∙ 𝒙
𝒙 (𝒙 )
3) To figure out which signs to use in the binomials, look at the signs in the quadratic
expression.
The LAST SIGN tells you if both signs are the same or not:
If it is a MINUS, the signs are DIFFERENT
If it is a PLUS, the signs and the SAME
If they are the same sign The FIRST SIGN in the Quadratic will tell you which it is.
𝒙+ ? (𝒙+ ? )
𝒙𝟐 + 𝟓𝒙 + 𝟔 = 𝒙+ ? (𝒙+ ? )
4) The last numbers in the binomial must:
Multiply to the LAST NUMBER in the Quadratic. In our case, positive six.
We know that the answers are both positive numbers, so we can get rid of any negative pairs.
These mystery numbers must, when we multiply the INNER and OUTER (from FOIL), add to
the middle term.
𝒙𝟐 + 𝟓𝒙 + 𝟔 = 𝒙+ ? (𝒙+ ? )
𝟓𝒙 = 𝟐𝒙 + 𝟑𝒙
1) 𝑥 2 − 𝑥 − 6 = ( )
2) 𝑥 2 + 9𝑥 + 20 = ( )
3) 𝑥 2 − 3𝑥 − 18 = ( )
4) 𝑥 2 + 2𝑥 + 1 = ( )
5) 𝑥 2 + 6𝑥 − 16 = ( )
6) 𝑥 2 + 10𝑥 + 21 = ( )
1) Greatest Common Factor: Look at the expression, are there any common factors? If
there are, you can pull them outside the expression.
Before any other step, always ask, “Is there a common factor?”
𝒂𝟐 − 𝒃𝟐 = 𝒂 + 𝒃 (𝒂 − 𝒃)
3) Quadratic Factoring:
𝒙𝟐 + 𝟓𝒙 + 𝟔 = 𝒙 + 𝟑 (𝒙 + 𝟐)
Factor Completely:
1. 𝑥 2 − 36
2. 𝑥 2 + 10𝑥 + 21
4. 2𝑥 3 − 32𝑥
5. 4𝑥 2 − 32𝑥 + 64
When we are trying to find the “roots” of an expression, we are solving for the Domain (Usually
the variable x) that makes the expression equal zero.
If we were asked to find the roots of the expression: 𝒙𝟐 + 𝟓𝒙 + 𝟔 here is the procedure.
Step 1: Set the Expression equal to zero: If it isn’t already set equal to zero, then move
everything to one side of the equation.
𝒙𝟐 + 𝟓𝒙 + 𝟔 = 𝟎
Step 2: Factor the Quadratic side of the equation.
𝒙+𝟐 𝒙+𝟑 =𝟎
Critical Thinking
We have two unknown quantities multiplying together to equal zero.
𝒙+𝟐 𝒙+𝟑 =𝟎
𝒙+𝟐 =𝟎 𝒙+𝟑 =𝟎
𝒙 = −𝟐 𝒙 = −𝟑
Step 4: Check the answers in the original equation keep the ones that work, and reject
any that do not.
1) 𝑦 2 + 3𝑦 + 2 = 0 2) 13𝑛 − 𝑛2 = 0
3) 𝑥 𝑥 + 2 = 3 4) 6 − 𝑥 2 = 𝑥
5) 𝑥 2 = 9 10 − 𝑥 6) 3𝑦 2 = 9𝑦 + 84