How do you determine whether x-1 is a factor of the polynomial 3x^3-x-33x3−x−3?
1 Answer
Explanation:
In general, if
So in our example, we find:
f(color(blue)(1)) = 3(color(blue)(1)^3)-color(blue)(1)-3 = 3-1-3 = -1 != 0f(1)=3(13)−1−3=3−1−3=−1≠0
So
Footnote
If you want to quickly check whether
This is the same as evaluating the polynomial for
You can also check whether