Precalculus Examples

$f (x) = x^{4} + 2 x^{3} + 46 x^{2} + 98 x - 147$

Step 1

Set $x^{4} + 2 x^{3} + 46 x^{2} + 98 x - 147$ equal to $0$ .

$x^{4} + 2 x^{3} + 46 x^{2} + 98 x - 147 = 0$

Step 2

Solve for $x$ .

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Step 2.1

Factor the left side of the equation.

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Step 2.1.1

Regroup terms.

$2 x^{3} + 98 x + x^{4} + 46 x^{2} - 147 = 0$

Step 2.1.2

Factor $2 x$ out of $2 x^{3} + 98 x$ .

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Step 2.1.2.1

Factor $2 x$ out of $2 x^{3}$ .

$2 x (x^{2}) + 98 x + x^{4} + 46 x^{2} - 147 = 0$

Step 2.1.2.2

Factor $2 x$ out of $98 x$ .

$2 x (x^{2}) + 2 x (49) + x^{4} + 46 x^{2} - 147 = 0$

Step 2.1.2.3

Factor $2 x$ out of $2 x (x^{2}) + 2 x (49)$ .

$2 x (x^{2} + 49) + x^{4} + 46 x^{2} - 147 = 0$

Step 2.1.3

Rewrite $x^{4}$ as ${(x^{2})}^{2}$ .

$2 x (x^{2} + 49) + {(x^{2})}^{2} + 46 x^{2} - 147 = 0$

Step 2.1.4

Let $u = x^{2}$ . Substitute $u$ for all occurrences of $x^{2}$ .

$2 x (x^{2} + 49) + u^{2} + 46 u - 147 = 0$

Step 2.1.5

Factor $u^{2} + 46 u - 147$ using the AC method.

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Step 2.1.5.1

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 $- 147$ and whose sum is $46$ .

$- 3, 49$

Step 2.1.5.2

Write the factored form using these integers.

$2 x (x^{2} + 49) + (u - 3) (u + 49) = 0$

Step 2.1.6

Replace all occurrences of $u$ with $x^{2}$ .

$2 x (x^{2} + 49) + (x^{2} - 3) (x^{2} + 49) = 0$

Step 2.1.7

Factor $x^{2} + 49$ out of $2 x (x^{2} + 49) + (x^{2} - 3) (x^{2} + 49)$ .

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Step 2.1.7.1

Factor $x^{2} + 49$ out of $2 x (x^{2} + 49)$ .

$(x^{2} + 49) (2 x) + (x^{2} - 3) (x^{2} + 49) = 0$

Step 2.1.7.2

Factor $x^{2} + 49$ out of $(x^{2} - 3) (x^{2} + 49)$ .

$(x^{2} + 49) (2 x) + (x^{2} + 49) (x^{2} - 3) = 0$

Step 2.1.7.3

Factor $x^{2} + 49$ out of $(x^{2} + 49) (2 x) + (x^{2} + 49) (x^{2} - 3)$ .

$(x^{2} + 49) (2 x + x^{2} - 3) = 0$

Step 2.1.8

Let $u = x$ . Substitute $u$ for all occurrences of $x$ .

$(x^{2} + 49) (2 u + u^{2} - 3) = 0$

Step 2.1.9

Factor $2 u + u^{2} - 3$ using the AC method.

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Step 2.1.9.1

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 $- 3$ and whose sum is $2$ .

$- 1, 3$

Step 2.1.9.2

Write the factored form using these integers.

$(x^{2} + 49) ((u - 1) (u + 3)) = 0$

Step 2.1.10

Factor.

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Step 2.1.10.1

Replace all occurrences of $u$ with $x$ .

$(x^{2} + 49) ((x - 1) (x + 3)) = 0$

Step 2.1.10.2

Remove unnecessary parentheses.

$(x^{2} + 49) (x - 1) (x + 3) = 0$

Step 2.2

If any individual factor on the left side of the equation is equal to $0$ , the entire expression will be equal to $0$ .

$x^{2} + 49 = 0$

$x - 1 = 0$

$x + 3 = 0$

Step 2.3

Set $x^{2} + 49$ equal to $0$ and solve for $x$ .

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Step 2.3.1

Set $x^{2} + 49$ equal to $0$ .

$x^{2} + 49 = 0$

Step 2.3.2

Solve $x^{2} + 49 = 0$ for $x$ .

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Step 2.3.2.1

Subtract $49$ from both sides of the equation.

$x^{2} = - 49$

Step 2.3.2.2

Take the specified root of both sides of the equation to eliminate the exponent on the left side.

$x = \pm \sqrt{- 49}$

Step 2.3.2.3

Simplify $\pm \sqrt{- 49}$ .

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Step 2.3.2.3.1

Rewrite $- 49$ as $- 1 (49)$ .

$x = \pm \sqrt{- 1 (49)}$

Step 2.3.2.3.2

Rewrite $\sqrt{- 1 (49)}$ as $\sqrt{- 1} \cdot \sqrt{49}$ .

$x = \pm \sqrt{- 1} \cdot \sqrt{49}$

Step 2.3.2.3.3

Rewrite $\sqrt{- 1}$ as $i$ .

$x = \pm i \cdot \sqrt{49}$

Step 2.3.2.3.4

Rewrite $49$ as $7^{2}$ .

$x = \pm i \cdot \sqrt{7^{2}}$

Step 2.3.2.3.5

Pull terms out from under the radical, assuming positive real numbers.

$x = \pm i \cdot 7$

Step 2.3.2.3.6

Move $7$ to the left of $i$ .

$x = \pm 7 i$

Step 2.3.2.4

The complete solution is the result of both the positive and negative portions of the solution.

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Step 2.3.2.4.1

First, use the positive value of the $\pm$ to find the first solution.

$x = 7 i$

Step 2.3.2.4.2

Next, use the negative value of the $\pm$ to find the second solution.

$x = - 7 i$

Step 2.3.2.4.3

The complete solution is the result of both the positive and negative portions of the solution.

$x = 7 i, - 7 i$

Step 2.4

Set $x - 1$ equal to $0$ and solve for $x$ .

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Step 2.4.1

Set $x - 1$ equal to $0$ .

$x - 1 = 0$

Step 2.4.2

Add $1$ to both sides of the equation.

$x = 1$

Step 2.5

Set $x + 3$ equal to $0$ and solve for $x$ .

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Step 2.5.1

Set $x + 3$ equal to $0$ .

$x + 3 = 0$

Step 2.5.2

Subtract $3$ from both sides of the equation.

$x = - 3$

Step 2.6

The final solution is all the values that make $(x^{2} + 49) (x - 1) (x + 3) = 0$ true.

$x = 7 i, - 7 i, 1, - 3$

Step 3