MATLAB: Reading the answer properly for roots

homeworkpolynomialroots

I have a polynomial
     p(x) = (x^5 + 1.3301x^4 - 9.1234x^3 + 1)(x^2 - 9976/1000)
I need to find the roots preferably to the nearest 100,000th.
Here is what I do:
    p = [1 1.3301 -9.1234 0 0 1]; roots(p);
my result is:
    -3.760932681080143 + 0.000000000000000i
    2.416314783767116 + 0.000000000000000i
    0.495523859135796 + 0.000000000000000i
    -0.240502980911384 + 0.405248700488689i
    -0.240502980911384 - 0.405248700488689i
then I do:
    p = [1 0 9976/1000]; roots(p);
my result is:
    -0.000000000000000 + 3.158480647399949i
    0.000000000000000 - 3.158480647399949i
I'm not really understanding my answers or if they are even correct. If someone could explain them I would appreciate it.

Best Answer

Those look correct. The "i" (lower-case I) at the end of numbers indicates the imaginary component. So one of the solutions is
-3.760932681080143 + 0.000000000000000i
which has an imaginary component of 0 and so could be written more typically as
-3.760932681080143
but
-0.240502980911384 + 0.405248700488689i
has both real and imaginary components.
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