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In elementary algebra, factoring a polynomial reduces the problem of finding its roots to finding the roots of the factors. Polynomials with coefficients in the integers or in a field possess the unique factorization property , a version of the fundamental theorem of arithmetic with prime numbers replaced by irreducible polynomials .
For instance, the polynomial x 2 + 3x + 2 is an example of this type of trinomial with n = 1. The solution a 1 = −2 and a 2 = −1 of the above system gives the trinomial factorization: x 2 + 3x + 2 = (x + a 1)(x + a 2) = (x + 2)(x + 1). The same result can be provided by Ruffini's rule, but with a more complex and time-consuming process.
If two or more factors of a polynomial are identical, then the polynomial is a multiple of the square of this factor. The multiple factor is also a factor of the polynomial's derivative (with respect to any of the variables, if several). For univariate polynomials, multiple factors are equivalent to multiple roots (over a suitable extension field).
The non-real factors come in pairs which when multiplied give quadratic polynomials with real coefficients. Since every polynomial with complex coefficients can be factored into 1st-degree factors (that is one way of stating the fundamental theorem of algebra ), it follows that every polynomial with real coefficients can be factored into ...
For example, a degree two polynomial in two variables, such as + +, is called a "binary quadratic": binary due to two variables, quadratic due to degree two. [ a ] There are also names for the number of terms, which are also based on Latin distributive numbers, ending in -nomial ; the common ones are monomial , binomial , and (less commonly ...
In algebra, polynomial long division is an algorithm for dividing a polynomial by another polynomial of the same or lower degree, a generalized version of the familiar arithmetic technique called long division. It can be done easily by hand, because it separates an otherwise complex division problem into smaller ones.
In algebra, the content of a nonzero polynomial with integer coefficients (or, more generally, with coefficients in a unique factorization domain) is the greatest common divisor of its coefficients. The primitive part of such a polynomial is the quotient of the polynomial by its content.
The formula for the difference of two squares can be used for factoring polynomials that contain the square of a first quantity minus the square of a second quantity. For example, the polynomial x 4 − 1 {\displaystyle x^{4}-1} can be factored as follows: