[Math] How to solve a quartic equation

algebra-precalculusquartics

Could someone please explain how to solve this : $x^4 – 10x^3 + 21x^2 + 40x – 100 = 0$ – not the answer only, but a step-by-step solution.
I tried to solve it, with the help of khanacademy, but still I have no idea how to correctly solve it.

Thank you so much in advance!

Best Answer

Since the polynomial has integer coefficients, the rational root theorem applies. Thus any rational root must be of the form $x=\pm p/q$, where $p$ divides the constant term 100 and $q$ divides the leading coefficient 1. In this case, the only possibility for $q$ is 1. This tells you that any rational root must be a divisor of $100=2^2*5^2$. It turns out that this polynomial does have rational roots, after which you find one you can perform polynomial division to get a complete factorization.

For instance, we have the potential rational roots $x=\pm2,\pm5,\pm10,\pm20\pm25,\pm50,\pm100$. We could plug in $x=5$ and verify that this is a root. Then, $$ \frac{x^4 - 10x^3 + 21x^2 + 40x - 100}{x-5} = x^3-5x^2-4x+20. $$ Since all the roots are rational, repeating this process will generate all of them. Not every polynomial with integer coefficients has rational roots (for instance $x^2-2=0$), so this won't always be the case.

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