The mean of 4 numbers is 15. 3 of the numbers are 18, 14 and 12. What is the other number?
1 answer:
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Answer:
the one real zero is in the interval (-1, 0)
Step-by-step explanation:
Descartes' rule of signs tells you there are 0 or 2 positive real zeros. Changing the signs of the odd-degree terms and applying that rule again tells you there is one negative real zero. At the same time, those coefficients (-3, -5, -5, +7) have a negative sum, so you know ...
f(-1) = -6
f(0) = +7
so there is a zero in the interval (-1, 0).
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You can try a few values between x=0 and x=10 to see what the function does in that part of the graph. You find ...
f(1) = 10
f(2) = 21
f(3) = 58
So, it is safe to conclude that there are no real zeros for x > 0.
The only real zero of f(x) is in the interval (-1, 0).
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I like to use a graphing calculator for problems like this.
