<p>^ lol… it’s cool, man… I was messin…
But I guess that means there is no specific way to do this then…</p>
<p>like
" c^3+3c^2+5c+3"</p>
<p>is solved in a different way than </p>
<p>“8x^4-4x^3-6x^2-9x-54”
<em>sigh</em>… I guess I just have to practice like crazy…</p>
<p>Ya there is no specific way to solve fourth and higher degree polynomials! I fact, most third degree polynomials too:)</p>
<p>There is actually a cubic formula and a quartic formula, but these are so tedious that they are not worth memorizing. So essentially, unless a problem is specifically designed to be easy, it is somewhat hopeless. The good news is that on most tests the questions are carefully chosen so tha either some trick works (such as factoring by grouping), or the synthetic division can be done with easy numbers.</p>
<p>^ oh okay… what about the ones I posted? How can I look for that “trick” you know?
Dr. Steve, I think what I’m asking is can you give me some similar exercises, so I can see if I get it? I think there is no other way… lol</p>
<p>Coming up with specific examples that work out nicely is a bit tedious. Any standard precalculus book will have lots of examples. Here’s one to start you off:</p>
<p>f(x) = 4x^4-4x^3-9x^2+x+2</p>
<p>Oh… I used the synthetic division way…and found the roots and all…</p>
<p>I got: (c+1)<em>(c-2)</em>(2c-1)*(2c+1) </p>
<p>I don’t think I could have doe this with grouping. I tried, but I don’t think t works… I dunno…</p>