Polynomials (J)

Andy Tran

31st March 2021

1 Introduction
Polynomials are a very special type of mathematical expression. Their simple definition
leads to their versatility in many mathematical problems as well as the development of much
theory about them. We will explore the definitions of polynomials and extend this to
the Remainder Theorem, Factor Theorem, Fundamental Theorem of Algebra and
Vieta’s Formulae.

2 Definitions
A polynomial P (x) is any expression that can be created by additions and multiplications
of real numbers and the pronumeral x. A polynomial P = P (x) of degree n is any expression
of the form
P (x) = an xn + an−1 xn−1 + · · · + a1 x + a0 ,
where a0 , a1 , . . . , an are any real numbers with an 6= 0. Notice that this just looks like the
sum of non-negative integer powers of x. For example, the following are all polynomials:

• 3x2 + 2x − 1
√
• 2x5 − 5x1000 − π

• − 52

But these are not:

• 1
x

5
• 2x 2 − 5

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Let’s define some important terminology! For the polynomial

an xn + an−1 xn−1 + · · · + a1 x + a0 ,

• a0 , a1 , . . . , an are called the coefficients.

• a0 is called the constant term.

• an is called the leading coefficient and an xn is called the leading term.

• The polynomial is called monic if the leading coefficient is 1.

• n is called the degree of the polynomial. In general, it is the highest nonzero power
of x that exists within its expansion. We denote the degree as deg(P (x)) = deg(P ).
For example, deg(x3 ) = 3 and deg(0x2 + x + 1) = 1.

• A polynomial is called:

– constant if n = 0;
– linear if n = 1;
– quadratic if n = 2;
– cubic if n = 3;
– quartic if n = 4;
– and so on.

Exercise 2.1. For each of the following expressions, determine if it is a polynomial or not.
If it is a polynomial, state the constant term, leading coefficient, whether or not it is monic,
and the degree. If it is not a polynomial, explain why.

• 3x4 − 21 x − 9

• 2x5 + x6

√
• 2

√
• −2x2 − 3.5 x

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3 Operations on Polynomials

3.1 Addition and Multiplication

Sum and product of two polynomials follow the expected algebra and is also a polynomial.
For example, take
P (x) = x2 + 3x + 2 and Q(x) = 2x + 1

Then we would have that

P (x) + Q(x) = (x2 + 3x + 2) + (2x + 1)

= x2 + 5x + 3

P (x) · Q(x) = (x2 + 3x + 2) · (2x + 1)

= 2x3 + x2 + 6x2 + 3x + 4x + 2
= 2x3 + 7x2 + 7x + 2.

Example 3.1. For two polynomials P (x) and Q(x), prove that deg(P Q) = deg(P )+deg(Q).

Remark: Notice that the function of taking the degree of a polynomial looks like f (xy) =
f (x) + f (y). Can you think of any other functions that satisfy this property?

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Exercise 3.2. For two polynomials P (x) and Q(x) with degrees m and n respectively, what
what can we say about the possible degree of the polynomial P (x) + Q(x)? What about the
degree of P (Q(x))

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Exercise 3.3. Given that the degree of a polynomial needs to satisfy the conditions in Ex-
ample 3.1 and Exercise 3.2, what do you think should be the degree of the zero polynomial
P (x) = 0?

Recall that:

• deg(P Q) = deg(P ) + deg(Q)

• deg(P + Q) ≤ max {deg(P ), deg(Q)}

• deg(P (Q)) = deg(P ) · deg(Q)

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3.2 Division
Dividing two polynomials will not necessarily give a polynomial. For instance, taking
x2 − 1 and x, then the quotient
x2 − 1 1
=x−
x x

But recall division with integers,

Theorem 3.4. (The Division Algorithm) For any two given integers n and d > 0, there
are unique numbers q and r such that

n = dq + r

and 0 ≤ r < d.

If r = 0, then we say that d divides n, and write it as d|n.

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So we can still divide polynomials together but we may get a remainder! We can slightly
adjust the statement of the algorithm to suit polynomials.

Theorem 3.5. (The Division Algorithm (Polynomials)) For any two given polyno-
mials P (x) and D(x) with deg(P ) ≥ deg(D), there are unique polynomials Q(x) and R(x)
such that
P (x) = D(x)Q(x) + R(x)

and deg(R) < deg(D).

If R(x) is 0, then we say that D(x) divides P (x) or D(x)|P (x).

For example, if we wanted to divide x3 − 2x + 2 by x + 1, we could rewrite it as

x3 − 2x + 2 = (x + 1)(x2 − x − 1) + 3.

Note that the degree of the polynomial is treated as its “size”. Integers and polynomials
act remarkably similarly (in abstract algebra they are examples of Euclidean domains)

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4 Polynomial Division
Let’s quickly revise of long division and introduce polynomial division

Example 4.1. Divide 2798 by 13.

Example 4.2. Divide 2x3 + 7x2 + 9x + 8 by x + 3.

Remark: Notice the similarity between long division in integers and polynomials.

If the polynomial Q(x) is missing some coefficients then in the division process, we write
it out in full form, for example, to divide x3 − 1 by x + 2, we may need to express x3 − 1 as
x3 + 0x2 + 0x − 1.

Also note that many polynomials will have negative terms as well. You can still apply the
above procedure but you will need to be very careful with the signs.

Exercise 4.3. Use long division to divide Q(x) by P (x) and express Q(x) = A(x)P (x) +
B(x), where:

(a) P (x) = x + 4 and Q(x) = x3 + 3x2 − 2x + 5,

(b) P (x) = x2 + x + 1 and Q(x) = x6 − 1.

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4.1 The Remainder Theorem
Example 4.4. Find the remainder when a polynomial x3 − 5x2 + 2x + 6 is divided by x − 2.

In general, to find the remainder of P (x) divided by x − a, we rewrite the polynomial as

P (x) = (x − a)Q(x) + r

where r is remainder, and then substituting x for a gives us that

P (a) = r.

Formally,

Theorem 4.5. (The Remainder Theorem) The remainder when a polynomial P (x) is
divided by x − a is P (a).

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In general, division is particularly interesting when the remainder is equal to 0 because it
will be a factor!

Theorem 4.6. (The Factor Theorem) x − a is a factor of a polynomial P (x) if and only
if P (a) = 0.

If x − a is a factor of P (x), we also say a is a root or a zero of the polynomial P (x).

Exercise 4.7. Use the factor theorem to find roots to the polynomial x3 − 2x2 − 5x + 6 and
hence factorise it. You may need to do some trial and error.

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5 Roots of Polynomials
Expressions of the form x − a can be thought of as the “building blocks” of polynomials.
Sounds familiar?

Recall for integers:

Theorem 5.1. (The Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic) Every integer n > 1 can
be uniquely represented as a product of primes. That is, it has a unique representation

n = pa11 pa22 pa33 . . . pakk

where p1 , p2 , p3 , . . . pk represent the 1st, 2nd, 3rd prime number and so on, and a1 , a2 , a3 , . . . , ak , k
are non-negative integers.

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And now for polynomials!

Theorem 5.2. (The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra) Every polynomial P (x) with
degree n has exactly n roots. That is, it has a unique representation

P (x) = A(x − α1 )(x − α2 )(x − α3 ) · · · (x − αn )

where α1 , α2 , α3 , . . . αn are the roots to P (x) and A is the leading coefficient.

Note that there may be repeated roots like

x2 − 2x + 1 = (x − 1)(x − 1)

and roots may not real numbers like

x2 + 1 = (x + i)(x − i).
√
where i = −1.

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Exercise 5.3. Prove that a polynomial of degree n cannot have more than n roots (including
repeated roots).

Exercise 5.4. Prove that if two polynomials of degree n, P (x) and Q(x), are equal at n + 1
distinct values of x, then P (x) = Q(x) for all values of x.

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6 Vieta’s Formulas
The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra gives us another way to express polynomials!
Consider a quadratic polynomial. In general, ax2 + bx + c which would factorise to

ax2 + bx + c = a(x − α)(x − β)

where α, β are the roots to the polynomial. Now we can write the roots in terms of the
coefficients!

These formulas are called Vieta’s formulas and can be generalised to polynomials of any
degree.

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Exercise 6.1. Suppose we now have a cubic polynomial of the form ax3 + bx2 + cx + d which
has roots α, β, γ. Find Vieta’s formulas (ie. expressions relating the roots and coefficients)
by equating the coefficients in a similar way to above.

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Exercise 6.2. Let α, β, γ be the roots of the polynomial P (x) = x3 − 2x2 + 3x + 4. Evaluate
the following numbers in closed form (i.e. express them as a single rational number).

(a) α + β + γ

(b) αβ + βγ + γα

(c) αβγ

1 1 1
(d) α
+ β
+ γ

(e) α2 + β 2 + γ 2

(f ) α3 + β 3 + γ 3

(g) (α + β)(β + γ)(γ + α)

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7 Additional Problem
10. Let a1 , a2 , · · · , a2021 , b1 , b2 , · · · , b2021 be distinct real numbers. A table of 2021 × 2021
numbers is filled so that the number ai − bj is placed in the intersection of the ith row
and jth column. It is known that in each column, the product of all numbers equals
1. Prove that in each row, the product of all numbers equals 1.

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