Euclid Stage 3 Class 2 Notes

Algebra 2 (Polynomials and Floor)

1. Polynomials

1) Polynomial Function

A polynomial function is a function that can be expressed in the form of a polynomial.

A polynomial is generally represented as P ( x ) . The highest power of the variable of P ( x ) is

known as its degree. Degree of a polynomial function is very important as it tells us about the
behaviour of the function P ( x ) when x becomes very large. The domain of a polynomial
function is entire real numbers (R).

If P ( x ) = an x n + an −1 x n −1 ++ a2 x 2 + a1 x + a0 , then for x 0 or x 0, P ( x )  an x n .

Thus, polynomial functions approach power functions for very large values of their variables.

2) Properties

Some of the important properties of polynomials along with some important polynomial
theorems are as follows:

Property 1: Division Algorithm

If a polynomial P ( x ) is divided by a polynomial G ( x ) results in quotient Q ( x ) with remainder
R ( x ) , then, P ( x ) = G ( x )  Q ( x ) + R ( x )

Property 2: Bezout’s Theorem

Polynomial P ( x ) is divisible by binomial ( x – a ) if and only if P ( a ) = 0 .

Property 3: Remainder Theorem

If P ( x ) is divided by ( x – a ) with remainder r, then P ( a ) = r .

Property 4: Factor Theorem

A polynomial P ( x ) divided by Q ( x ) results in R ( x ) with zero remainders if and only if Q ( x )
is a factor of P ( x ) .

Property 5: Intermediate Value Theorem

If P ( x ) is a polynomial, and P ( x )  P ( y ) for ( x  y ) , then P ( x ) takes every value from P ( x )
to P ( y ) in the closed interval  x, y  .

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Euclid Stage 3 Class 2 Notes

Property 6
The addition, subtraction and multiplication of polynomials P and Q result in a polynomial
where,
Degree ( P  Q )  Degree ( P or Q )
Degree ( P  Q ) = Degree ( P ) + Degree ( Q )

Property 7
If a polynomial P is divisible by a polynomial Q, then every zero of Q is also a zero of P.

Property 8
If a polynomial P is divisible by two coprime polynomials Q and R, then it is divisible by
(Q • R ) .
Property 9
If P ( x ) = a0 + a1 x + a2 x 2 ++ an x n is a polynomial such that deg ( P ) = n  0 then, P has at most
“ n” distinct roots.

Property 10: Descartes’ Rule of Sign

The number of positive real zeroes in a polynomial function P ( x ) is the same or less than by an
even number as the number of changes in the sign of the coefficients. So, if there are “ K ” sign
changes, the number of roots will be “ k ” or “( k – a )” , where “ a ” is some even number.

Property 11: Fundamental Theorem of Algebra

Every non-constant single-variable polynomial with complex coefficients has at least one
complex root.

Property 12
If P ( x ) is a polynomial with real coefficients and has one complex zero ( x = a – bi ) , then
x = a + bi will also be a zero of P ( x ) . Also, x 2 – 2ax + a 2 + b 2 will be a factor of P ( x ) .

3) Polynomial Equations

The polynomial equations are those expressions which are made up of multiple constants and
variables. The standard form of writing a polynomial equation is to put the highest degree first
then, at last, the constant term. An example of a polynomial equation is:
b = a 4 + 3a 3 − 2a 2 + a + 1

4) Polynomial Equations Formula

Usually, the polynomial equation is expressed in the form of an ( x n ) . Here a is the coefficient, x
is the variable and n is the exponent. As we have already discussed in the introduction part, the
value of exponent should always be a positive integer.

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Euclid Stage 3 Class 2 Notes

If we expand the polynomial equation we get;

F ( x ) = an x n + an −1 x n −1 + an −2 x n − 2 ++ a1 x + a0 = 0

This is the general expression and it can also be expressed as;

n
F ( x ) =  ak n k = 0
k =0

Example of a polynomial equation is: 2 x 2 + 3x + 1 = 0 , where 2 x 2 + 3x + 1 is basically a

polynomial expression which has been set equal to zero, to form a polynomial equation.

2. Floor and Ceiling Functions

1) Definitions

Let x be a real number. The floor function of x, denoted by  x  or floor(x), is defined to be the
greatest integer that is less than or equal to x.

The ceiling function of x, denoted by  x  or ceil(x), is defined to be the least integer that is
greater than or equal to x.

For example,
  = 3,   = 4, 5 = 5, 5 = 5.

 −e  = −3,  −e  = −2,  −1 = −1,  −1 = −1.

It follows from the definitions that the floor and ceiling functions have type → . Formally,
for any x  , they can be defined as

Floor:  x  = max n  : n  x

Ceiling:  x  = min n  : n  x

2) Graphs of the Floor and Ceiling Functions

The floor and ceiling functions look like a staircase and have a jump discontinuity at each integer
point.

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Euclid Stage 3 Class 2 Notes

3) Properties of the Floor and Ceiling Functions

There are many interesting and useful properties involving the floor and ceiling functions, some
of which are listed below. The number n is assumed to be an integer.

a)  x  = n iff n  x  n +1

b)  x  = n iff n −1  x  n

c)  x  = n iff x −1  n  x

d)  x  = n iff x  n  x +1

e)  − x  = −  x 

f)  − x  = −  x 

0 if x 
g)  x  +  − x  = 
−1 if x 
0 if x
h)  x  +  − x  = 
1 if x

i)  x + n  =  x  + n

j)  x + n  =  x  + n

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Euclid Stage 3 Class 2 Notes

4) Fractional Part Function

The fractional part of a number x  is the difference between x and the floor of x:
 x = x −  x  .
For example,

2 = 2 − 2 = 2 − 2 = 0 ,

3.51 = 3.51 − 3.51 = 3.51 − 3 = 0.51 ,

7  7 7  7 1
 = −  = −2= ,
3 3 3 3 3

−5.98 = −5.98 − −5.98 = −5.98 − ( −6 ) = −5.98 + 6 = 0.02

The graph of the fractional part function looks like a sawtooth wave, with a period of 1.

The range of fractional part function is the half-open interval  0,1) .

Some other properties of the fractional part are

a)  x = 0 iff x 
b)  x + n =  x , n 
0 if x
c)  x + − x = 
1 if x

Example 1

 1  5  9
Solve the equation  x −  +  x −  +  x −  = 3 .
 2  2  2

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Euclid Stage 3 Class 2 Notes

Example 2

Solve the equation x 2 + 2  x = 12

2

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Euclid Stage 3 Class 2 Notes

In-class questions

1. Find all pairs (a, b) of real numbers such that the roots of polynomials 6 x 2 − 24 x − 4a and
x3 + ax 2 + bx − 8 are all non-negative real numbers.

2. Find all real numbers a such that polynomial x3 + ax − 2 ( a + 4 ) has exactly two distinct real
roots.

3. After the school day is over, Peter must attend an extra math class. The teacher writes a
quadratic equation x2 + p1 x + q1 = 0 with integer coefficients on the blackboard and Peter has to
find its solutions. If they are not both integers, Peter may go home. If the solutions are integers,
then the teacher writes a new equation x2 + p₂ x + q₂ = 0 , where p₂ and q₂ are the solutions of the
previous equation taken in some order, and everything starts all over. Find all possible values for
p1 and q1 such that the teacher can hold Peter at school forever.

 4 1   4 3    4 5   4 2015 
4. Compute         .
 2    4    6   2016 
4 4 4 4
       

 
5. Compute the greatest integer x such that    x    = 2
   
 

6. Compute the product of all positive values of x that satisfy  x + 1 − 19  x + 1 + 48 = 0 .
2x x

7. Given that a and b are positive and  20 − a  = 19 − b  =  ab  compute the least upper bound
of the set of possible values of a + b .