Precalculus Examples

$\frac{x^{4} + 2 x^{3} - 4 x^{2} - 5 x - 6}{x^{2} + x - 2}$

Step 1

Consider the form $x^{2} + b x + c$ . Find a pair of integers whose product is $c$ and whose sum is $b$ . In this case, whose product is $- 2$ and whose sum is $1$ .

$- 1, 2$

Step 2

Write the factored form using these integers.

$\frac{x^{4} + 2 x^{3} - 4 x^{2} - 5 x - 6}{(x - 1) (x + 2)}$