Question

How do you divide `(-x^4+12x^3-5x^2-6x-2)/(x^2-4)`?

Answer 1

`(-x^4+12x^3-5x^2-6x-2)/(x^2-4) = -x^2+12x-9` with remainder `42x-38`

Explanation:

I like to just long divide the coefficients, not forgetting to include `0`'s for any missing powers of `x`. In this example that means the missing `x` term in the divisor...

We find:

`(-x^4+12x^3-5x^2-6x-2)/(x^2-4) = -x^2+12x-9` with remainder `42x-38`