Question

Factor y = x^3 - 4x^2 - 7x +10 if x=-2 is a zero.

Answer 1

dont think too hard
since \(-2\) is a zero, you know it looks like
\[ x^3 - 4x^2 - 7x +10=(x+2)\times (\text{something})\] you can find the something by
a) long division (lousy method)
b) synthetic division (easy method)
c) thinking (good method)

Answer 2

It says to use synthetic, but I'm having trouble with it.