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Kwadwo Amankwa - 06/02/2015 5:09:43 AM PDT

PreCalculus / Amankwa, Kwadwo (Amankwa)

1.

Linear factors theorem and conjugate zeros theorem

Suppose that is a polynomial of degree whose coefficients are real

numbers.

Also, suppose that has the following zeros.

Answer the following.

(a) Find another zero of

(b) What is the maximum number of real zeros that can have?
(c) What is the maximum number of nonreal zeros that can have?

Background:

Consider a polynomial of degree

By the Linear Factors Theorem, can be written as a product of the leading

coefficient and linear factors.

So, has exactly zeros:

These zeros can be real or nonreal, and they are not necessarily distinct.
If a linear factor appears times in this product, we say that is a zero with
multiplicity

Suppose that has real coefficients.

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Then the Conjugate Zeros Theorem says that nonreal zeros can only occur in conjugate
pairs.
In other words, if (with ) is a zero of then its conjugate is
also a zero.

The current problem:

(a) Find another zero of

We are told that has real coefficients and that and are
zeros of
So by the Conjugate Zeros Theorem, their conjugates and are also
zeros.
Thus, and are all possible answers.

(b) What is the maximum number of real zeros that can have?

We are told that has degree

So by the Linear Factors Theorem, it must have exactly zeros (not necessarily
distinct).
At least of the zeros are not real ( and ).
Thus, can have at most real zeros.

(c) What is the maximum number of nonreal zeros that can have?

Because has zeros total, the number of nonreal zeros cannot exceed
By the Conjugate Zeros Theorem, the nonreal zeros of can only occur in
conjugate pairs.
So the number of nonreal zeros is even, which means has at most nonreal
zeros.

Here is a possible answer.

(a)
(b)
(c)

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