Lesson 2: Factoring Polynomials

 

Focus

 

You may look at the mountain range in the image and words like majestic, rugged, or wilderness might come to mind. How about the word polynomial?

 

 

 

Part of the contour of the peaks can be represented by a polynomial of degree 3.

In lesson 1 you saw how useful the expanded and factored forms of polynomial functions are for identifying end behavior and x- and y-intercepts. Up until now, you have been given the factored form for any polynomial of degree 3 or higher.

 

 

In this lesson you will learn how to determine the equivalent factored forms of cubic and higher-degree functions like the one modelling the mountain range.

 

Lesson Outcome

 

At the end of this lesson you will be able to factor polynomials of degree 3 and higher.

 

Lesson Questions

 

You will investigate the following questions:

• How is polynomial division related to numeric division?
• How do you know when a number or binomial is a factor of another number or polynomial?

Assessment

 

Your assessment may be based on a combination of the following tasks:

• completion of the Lesson 2 Assignment (Download the Lesson 2 Assignment and save it in your course folder now.)
• course folder submissions from Try This and Share activities
• additions to Glossary Terms and Formula Sheet