Math 176 LINEAR ALGEBRA

2017/2018 Tutorial 3: Polynomials

1. Which of the following sets is a field?

a. R c. C e. Q
b. Z6 d. Z15 f. Z13

2. Determine the degree, leading term and leading coefficient of the following polynomials. Which
are them are monics

a. p(x) = 3x50 + 2x2 − 4x + 5 d. k(x) = 5x5 − x4 + 3x3 + x

b. q(x) = 5x + 2 e. p(x) = x7 − 5x3 − 3x2
c. h(x) = x − 4 f. q(x) = x52 + x2 + 1

3. Compute p(x) ± q(x) and p(x) × q(x) where possible.

a. p(x) = 3x4 + 2x2 − 4x + 5 and q(x) = c. p(x) = x − 2 and q(x) = 5x2 + 4x − 6

5x + 2
b. p(x) = 4x3 + 3x2 + 2x − 4 and q(x) = d. p(x) = 2x5 − 5x3 − 3x2 and q(x) =
x2 + x x3 + x2 + x

4. Show that the following are not ideals of R[x].

a. The set of all polynomials whose coefficient of x3 is a multiple of 3.

b. The set of all polynomials p(x) such that p0 (0) = 0.

5. Verify if the following statements are true.

a. q(x) = x − 2 divides p(x) = 2x4 − 2x3 − c. k(x) = (x − 1)(x + 2) and l(x) =

8x2 + x + 6. 2x4 − 5x3 − 15x2 + 10x + 8
b. p(x) = x + 1 divides h(x) = x4 + x3 − d. k(x) = (x − 1)(x + 2) and l(x) =
9x2 + x + 10. 2x4 − 5x3 − 15x2 + 10x + 8

6. Determine the remainder in the following.

a. p(x) = 5x3 + 4x2 − 6x + 3 divided by c. p(x) = 3x4 − 2x3 − 10x − 5 divided by

q(x) = x − 4. q(x) = x − 4
b. p(x) = x3 + 3x2 − 13x − 10 divided by d. p(x) = 2x4 −3x3 −14x2 +33x−18 divided
q(x) = x − 3 by q(x) = (x − 1)(x − 2)

7.

1-1
Lecture 1: 1-2

Find the roots of the following. b. q(x) = x4 + x3 − 9x2 + x + 10

a. p(x) = 2x3 − 9x + 7x + 6 .c h(x) = x4 + x3 − 2x2 − x + 1