Question

Is (x - 1) a factor? Explain.

Answer 1

No it is not a factor

It can be if you have something like (x-1)(x-2) = x^2 -3x + 2

so x-1 and x-2 are factors because they multiply to equal the nominal

Answer 2

For x – 1 to be a factor of f (x) = 2x4 + 3x2 – 5x + 7, the Factor Theorem says that x = 1 must be a zero of f (x). To test whether x – 1 is a factor, I will first set x – 1 equal to zero and solve to find the proposed zero, x = 1. Then I will use synthetic division to divide f (x) by x = 1. Since there is no cubed term, I will be careful to remember to insert a "0" into the first line of the synthetic division to represent the omitted power of x in 2x4 + 3x2 – 5x + 7:

Explanation:

no it is not