Precalculus Examples

$\frac{x^{5} + 7}{x^{3} - 1}$

Step 1

Set up the polynomials to be divided. If there is not a term for every exponent, insert one with a value of $0$ .

$x^{3}$

$0 x^{2}$

$0 x$

$1$

$x^{5}$

$0 x^{4}$

$0 x^{3}$

$0 x^{2}$

$0 x$

$7$

Step 2

Divide the highest order term in the dividend $x^{5}$ by the highest order term in divisor $x^{3}$ .

$x^{2}$

$x^{3}$

$0 x^{2}$

$0 x$

$1$

$x^{5}$

$0 x^{4}$

$0 x^{3}$

$0 x^{2}$

$0 x$

$7$

Step 3

Multiply the new quotient term by the divisor.

$x^{2}$

$x^{3}$

$0 x^{2}$

$0 x$

$1$

$x^{5}$

$0 x^{4}$

$0 x^{3}$

$0 x^{2}$

$0 x$

$7$

$x^{5}$

$0$

$x^{2}$

Step 4

The expression needs to be subtracted from the dividend, so change all the signs in $x^{5} + 0 + 0 - x^{2}$

$x^{2}$

$x^{3}$

$0 x^{2}$

$0 x$

$1$

$x^{5}$

$0 x^{4}$

$0 x^{3}$

$0 x^{2}$

$0 x$

$7$

$x^{5}$

$0$

$x^{2}$

Step 5

After changing the signs, add the last dividend from the multiplied polynomial to find the new dividend.

$x^{2}$

$x^{3}$

$0 x^{2}$

$0 x$

$1$

$x^{5}$

$0 x^{4}$

$0 x^{3}$

$0 x^{2}$

$0 x$

$7$

$x^{5}$

$0$

$x^{2}$

Step 6

Pull the next terms from the original dividend down into the current dividend.

$x^{2}$

$x^{3}$

$0 x^{2}$

$0 x$

$1$

$x^{5}$

$0 x^{4}$

$0 x^{3}$

$0 x^{2}$

$0 x$

$7$

$x^{5}$

$0$

$x^{2}$

$0 x$

$7$

Step 7

The final answer is the quotient plus the remainder over the divisor.

$x^{2} + \frac{x^{2} + 7}{x^{3} - 1}$