How do you divide $(-7x^3-5x^2-2x-4)/(x-4)$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2016-01-01T23:41:26

Long divide the coefficients to find:

$(-7x^3-5x^2-2x-4)/(x-4) = -7x^2-33x-134 - 540/(x-4)$

The quotient is $-7x^2-33x-134$ with remainder $-540$

I like to long divide the coefficients like this:

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The process is similar to long division of numbers.

In this particular example we find:

$(-7x^3-5x^2-2x-4)/(x-4) = -7x^2-33x-134 - 540/(x-4)$

That is $(-7x^3-5x^2-2x-4)/(x-4)$ is $-7x^2-33x-134$ with remainder $-540$ .

Or if you prefer:

$-7x^3-5x^2-2x-4 = (-7x^2-33x-134)(x-4)-540$

How do you divide (-7x^3-5x^2-2x-4)/(x-4) (-7x^3-5x^2-2x-4)/(x-4) ?