What exactly is factor theorem and remainder theorem?
Answers
☛ Factor Theorem ;
If p ( x ) is a polynomial of degree ≥ one and a is any real number , then
( i ) ( x - a ) is a factor of p ( x ) , if p ( a ) = 0.
( ii ) p ( a ) = 0, if ( x - a ) is a factor of p (x).
☛ Remainder Theorem ;
Division and Algorithm for polynomials : If p(x) and g(x) are two polynomials with g(x) ≠ 0, then we can find q ( x ) and r (x) and such that
p ( x ) = g ( x ) * q ( x ) + r ( x ), where
r (x) = 0 (or) deg r(x) < deg g(x)
Dividend = Divisor × quotient + remainder
In mathematics, factor theorem is used when factoring the polynomials completely. It is a theorem that links factors and zeros of the polynomial.
According to factor theorem, if f(x) is a polynomial of degree n ≥ 1 and ‘a’ is any real number, then, (x-a) is a factor of f(x), if f(a)=0.
Also, we can say, if (x-a) is a factor of polynomial f(x), then f(a) = 0. This proves the converse of the theorem. Let us see the proof of this theorem along with examples.
Factor theorem is commonly used for factoring a polynomial and finding the roots of the polynomial. It is a special case of a polynomial remainder theorem.
As discussed in the introduction, a polynomial f(x) has a factor (x-a), if and only if, f(a) = 0. It is one of the methods to do the factorisation of a polynomial.
Here we will prove the factor theorem, according to which we can factorise the polynomial.
Consider a polynomial f(x) which is divided by (x-c), then f(c)=0.
Using remainder theorem,
➡f(x)= (x-c)q(x)+f(c)
Where f(x) is the target polynomial and q(x) is the quotient polynomial.
➡Since, f(c) = 0, hence,
➡f(x)= (x-c)q(x)+f(c)
➡f(x) = (x-c)q(x)+0
➡f(x) = (x-c)q(x)
Therefore, (x-c) is a factor of the polynomial f(x).
Remainder Theorem is an approach of Euclidean division of polynomials. According to this theorem, if we divide a polynomial P(x) by a factor ( x – a); that isn’t essentially an element of the polynomial; you will find a smaller polynomial along with a remainder. This remainder that has been obtained is actually a value of P(x) at x = a, specifically P(a). So basically, x -a is the divisor of P(x) if and only if P(a) = 0. It is applied to factorize polynomials of each degree in an elegant manner.
For example: if f(a) = a3-12a2-42 is divided by (a-3) then the quotient will be a2-9a-27 and the remainder is -123.
if we put, a-3 = 0
then a = 3
Hence, f(a) = f(3) = -123
Thus, it satisfies the remainder theorem.
Theorem functions on an actual case that a polynomial is comprehensively dividable, at least one time by its factor in order to get a smaller polynomial and ‘a’ remainder of zero. This acts as one of the simplest ways to determine whether the value ‘a’ is a root of the polynomial P(x).
That is when we divide p(x) by x-a we obtain
p(x) = (x-a)·q(x) + r(x),
as we know that Dividend = (Divisor × Quotient) + Remainder
But if r(x) is simply the constant r (remember when we divide by (x-a) the remainder is a constant)…. so we obtain the following solution, i.e
p(x) = (x-a)·q(x) + r
Observe what happens when we have x equal to a:
p(a) = (a-a)·q(a) + r
p(a) = (0)·q(a) + r
p(a) = r