5.6 Dividing Polynomials

Dividing Polynomials To Divide a Polynomial by a Monomial Divide each term of the polynomial separately by the monomial.

Example Divide:

Dividing Polynomials To divide a polynomial by a polynomial other than a monomial, we use a process known as long division. Polynomial long division is similar to number long division, which we review on the next slide.

Dividing Polynomials As you can see from the previous example, there is a pattern in the long division technique. Divide Multiply Subtract Bring down Then repeat these steps until you can’t bring down or divide any longer. We will incorporate this same repeated technique with dividing polynomials.

Dividing Polynomials

Dividing Polynomials Notice that the division process is continued until the degree of the remainder polynomial is less than the degree of the divisor polynomial.

Dividing Polynomials 8 6 4 7 2 + - x .