Question

What are some examples of long division with polynomials?

Answer 1

Here are a couple of examples...

Explanation:

Here's a sample animation of long dividing `x^3+x^2-x-1` by `x-1` (which divides exactly).

Write the dividend under the bar and the divisor to the left. Each is written in descending order of powers of `x`. If any power of `x` is missing, then include it with a `0` coefficient. For example, if you were dividing by `x^2-1`, then you would express the divisor as `x^2+0x-1`.

Choose the first term of the quotient to cause leading terms to match. In our example, we choose `x^2`, since `(x-1)*x^2 = x^3-x^2` matches the leading `x^3` term of the dividend.

Write the product of this term and the divisor below the dividend and subtract to give a remainder (`2x^2`).

Bring down the next term (`-x`) from the divisor alongside it.

Choose the next term (`2x`) of the quotient to match the leading term of this remainder, etc.

Stop when there is nothing more to bring down from the dividend and the running remainder has lower degree than the divisor.

In our example, the division is exact. We are left with no remainder.

Instead of writing out all of the terms in full, you can just write out and divide the coefficients. For example:

Here we divide `3x^4+2x^3-11x^2-2x+5` by `x^2-2` to get `3x^2+2x-5` with remainder `2x-5`.