Polynomial Function - Problem 5

If we know a rational zero of a polynomial, we can turn it into a factor of the polynomial by writing (x - zero ). This will work for integer as well as fractional zeros. If a polynomial has one irrational zero (meaning it has a square root,) then it's conjugate is also a zero. (Recall that a conjugate is just changing the + or - sign between the two terms.) We will write these radical zeros as (x - zero) as before. Here we look at an example with radical monomial zeros and write the polynomial in standard form. We're assuming here that the leading coefficient, a, is one, but that will not always be the case- you'd need more information to find an "a" value.