Question

4. Find the polynomial function with roots 1, –2, and 5.

Answer 1

there are many...
but do you want the one that's the least degree?

Answer 2

Kaylei remember what roots (solutions) to a polynomial look like?

You factor a trinomial into a pair of binomials and then set each factor equal to 0 to solve for x in each case.

Here's an example:
x^2 + 4x + 3 = 0
Factors into:
(x+1)(x+3) = 0

x+1=0 --> x=-1
x+3=0 --> x=-3

So the roots to this polynomial are -1 and -3.

In your problem, they're asking you to do the OPPOSITE, we KNOW the roots, now lets go back and write it as a polynomial.

So if you have a root of 1, you can rewrite it as a factor (x-1)

Hope that helps :D lemme know if yer still confused.

Answer 3

Thank you. That helps a lot