Find all possible rational roots and then find any actual rational roots:
x^3+2x^2-8x-16

Question

Find all possible rational roots and then find any actual rational roots:
x^3+2x^2-8x-16

anonymous · Answer

possible roots: first take the factors the constant term (use the positive if its negative), this case being 16.

Factors of 16 are: 1,2,4,8,16

next you divide the factors of the constant term by the leading coefficient, in this case the coefficient in front of the x^3 is 1 so we divide all the factors by 1 which doesnt change anything, finally the roots can be both positive and negative so we say the possible roots are $$\pm 1,2,4,8,16$$ which means all possible roots are $$-16,-8,-4,-2,-1,1,2,4,8,16$$

anonymous · Answer

i should say you divide the factors of the constant term by the factors of the leading coefficient, the factors of 1 is 1 so you still divide by 1

anonymous · Answer

@Tyler1992 And how would you find the actual rational roots?