Question

When x = a is a zero of a polynomial function f, the three statements below are true.

Answer 1

Answer:

x = a is a zero of a polinomial f(x), this is the same than: f(x) has a root at x = a

Then: f(a) = 0.

a) x = a is a ____ of the polynomial equation f(x) = 0.

If we define f(x) = 0, then x = a is a solution of the equation.

Then the complete sentence is:

x = a is a solution of the polynomial equation f(x) = 0.

b) ____ is a factor of the polynomial f(x).

Remember that if a polynomial p(x) of degree n has the roots x₁, x₂, ..., xₙ

Then we can write p(x) in the factorized form as:

p(x) = A*(x - x₁)*(x - x₂)*...*(x - xₙ)

Where A is a real number.

Then if in this case we know that a is a root of f(x), then (x - a) is a factor of the polynomial f(x), then the complete sentence is:

(x - a) is a factor of the polynomial f(x).

c) (a, 0) is a ____ of the graph f(x)

We usually use the notation y = f(x).

Then the points of the form (x, f(x)) are the points that belong to the graph of f(x).

In this case, the point (a, f(a)) = (a, 0)

This point belongs to the graph of f(x), then the complete sentence can be written as:

(a, 0) is a point of the graph f(x).