Question

The polynomial x^2+3x-1 is a factor of x^4+3x^3-2x^2-3x+1 true or false?

Answer 1

Answer:

Yes, it is true that $x^2+3x-1$  is a factor of $x^4+3x^3-2x^2-3x+1$.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let us try to factorize $x^4+3x^3-2x^2-3x+1$

$x^4+3x^3-2x^2-3x+1\\\Rightarrow x^4-2x^2+1-3x+3x^3$

Let us try to make a whole square of the given terms:

$\Rightarrow (x^2)^2-2\times x^2 \times 1+1^2+3x^3-3x\\\Rightarrow (x^2-1)^2+3x^3-3x$

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Formula used above:

$a^{2} -2 \times a \times b +b^{2} = (a-b)^2$

In the above equation, we had $a = x, b = 1$.

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Further solving the above equation, taking $3x$ common out of $3x^3-3x$

$\Rightarrow (x^2-1)^2+3x(x^2-1)$

Taking $(x^{2} -1)$ common out of the above term:

$\Rightarrow (x^2-1)((x^2-1)+3x)\\\Rightarrow (x^2-1)(x^2+3x-1)$

So, the two factors are $(x^2-1)\ and\ (x^2+3x-1)$.

$\therefore$ The statement that $x^2+3x-1$  is a factor of $x^4+3x^3-2x^2-3x+1$ is True.