Thursday, September 16, 2010

Solve `x^4+x^3+ 7x^2 - 9x - 18` by finding all roots

Find all zeros of the function `x^4-x^3+7x^2-9x-18 ` :


The only possible rational roots are factors of 18. We find that x=-1 and x=2 are factors. We can use long division or synthetic division to find the remaining quadratic factor:`x^4-x^3+7x^2-9x-18=(x+1)(x-2)(x^2+9) `


We can factor further in the complex numbers:


`(x+1)(x-2)(x+3i)(x-3i)=0 `


---------------------------------------------------------------------------


The real solutions are -1 and 2. The imaginary solutions are 3i and -3i.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------


** The problem as stated has no rational roots, so I assume there was a sign error.**

No comments:

Post a Comment