Question

Use synthetic substitution to evaluate the polynomial for the given value x = -3.
P(x) = x^3 + 3x^2 + 4

Answer 1

So have you ever done synthetic division?
Like do you know how to set it up?

Answer 2

For example pretend we have
\[P(x)=x^2+1\]
And we wanted to know what this polynomial equals when evaluated at x=-3
The way without synthetic division is
\[P(-3)=(-3)^2+1=9+1=10\]
The way with synthetic division:
First make sure it is in descending order:
\[P(x)=x^2+0x+1 \text{ note : you may need to put placeholders like I just did}\]

So We have


The remainder is what we want to look at