The degree of the divisor in synthetic division should be 1.
Synthetic division is a simplified method of polynomial division, but it has a specific requirement regarding the divisor. According to the reference provided, synthetic division can only be applied when the divisor is a linear factor, meaning it has a degree of 1. In other words, the highest power of the variable in the divisor must be 1.
For example:
- If you are dividing by
x - 2, the degree of the divisor is 1, so synthetic division can be used. - If you are dividing by
x^2 + 1, the degree of the divisor is 2, so synthetic division cannot be used directly. You would typically use long division in this case.
The requirement that the divisor be of degree 1 is crucial for the synthetic division process to work correctly.
