The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra

Dear Mom,

You’re always asking what I learn during class over the summer because you always see

me stressing, but I can never fully explain to you what I learned because it’s too long of a

process. This letter is to explain to you one of the many things I’ve learned over the past 5 weeks

which is, The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra (F.T.A.). You may be intimidated just by the

name of it, I know I was, but I promise by the end of this letter you will have a good

understanding of the F.T.A. I know it has been a while since you’ve taken a math course so I’ll

try to be as thorough as possible when explaining this theorem and the ones that go hand in hand

with it. You might ask yourself “wait, what?” a lot but that’s the beauty of having it written

down, you can always reread it, if you still don’t get it, just ask me!

So let’s dive right in, The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra states that all polynomials,

p(x), have at least one complex root. The root may be real or imaginary. Now, I’m not sure if

you learned imaginary numbers because you were in Nicaragua for your high school years, but I

will assume you did. Below I put the F.T.A to the test with an example of a problem with a

single root, two roots, and no roots. As you can see the one with no roots still has an answer, it is

a complex root (complex meaning imaginary) and complex roots come in pairs.
The next part states, every polynomial of degree N has N complex roots. This means that if my

function is P(x)= x^3+2x^2+3, it has 3 complex roots because the highest power of x is 3.

Another example would be P(x)= x^10, how many complex roots would it have? 10 because it is

the highest power of x. So what does this imply? It means that every polynomial of degree N has

N linear factors, they may be real or complex (imaginary). This part means that if my polynomial

is P(x)= x^6 + 6^5 + 5^4 + 4^3 + 3^2 + 2x -8 there must be 6 linear factors because the highest

power of x is 6 in this polynomial. So it would look something like this P(x)= x^6 + 6^5 + 5^4 +

4^3 + 3^2 + 2x -8 = (x+a)(x+b)(x+c)(x+d)(x+e)(x+f). There’s a little problem though, these

factors may occur multiple times such as double and triple roots.

Your brain might be a little tired and/or fried and trust me, mine was too when I was

learning this, but you got this. Now, before getting into how to solve for the factors, I’m going to

explain the theorems that go hand in hand with the F.T.A. and make it work. The theorems are

Integral Theorem, Factor Theorem, Remainder Theorem and Rational Roots Theorem. The first

theorem is the Integral Zero Theorem, It tells us the list of possible factors (generate our list)

come from the last term. Another theorem is the Rational Roots Theorem it gives you a more

complete factor list. The last theorems are the Remainder Theorem and Factor Theorem they

state that when you divide, if the remainder is zero its a factor of the polynomial.
 Two more things I have to teach you and you’ll be done. I know you’re super impatient

but stick with me. One of the ways you can solve for the factors of a polynomial is long division.

Remember your regular division from la primaria? Yeah it’s kind of like that but just a tad bit

more complicated. Let’s say my polynomial is P(x) = 8x^3 -10x^2 -x +3 to generate my list

(Integral theorem) I look at the constant (the last term) which is 3 in this case. The factors are

+/-1 and +/-3, then you write them as linear factors (x+1), (x-1), (x+3), (x-3). Now you prove

one of them is a factor, so lets use (x-1). If there is no remainder, its a factor (Remainder

Theorem). If there is a remainder, it’s not a factor.

Using long division we proved that (x-1) is a factor of P(x) = 8x^3 - 10x^2 -x +3. We can

do this in a much simpler way using synthetic division. I personally think this one is easier and

less complicated so this is the one I use more often and I’m sure you will too because once again,

impatient. We are still using P(x) = 8x^2 -10x^2 -x +3 since the constant is 3 the factors are +/-1

and +/-3, the you rewrite them as (x+1), (x-1), (x+3), (x-3). Using the same linear factor we can

prove that it is a factor by using synthetic division as well. Below I proved that (x-1) is a factor

of P(x) = 8x^3 - 10x^2 -x +3.

Look at the answer of your, either synthetic or long division, problem and once you’re at a 2nd

degree polynomial (where the highest power of x is 2) such as the example above, you should

use the quadratic formula. The quadratic formula can find the roots that are imaginary while

doing long division and synthetic division won’t work to find imaginary roots. The quadratic

formula will finish off the problem.

If anything didn’t make sense please ask me what you didn’t understand. I hope your brain

doesn’t hurt as much as mine did when I first learned this.

Con mucho cariño,

Tu hija más inteligente <3

P.S. That means Victoria not Elizabeth!!!