O Level Cambridge Additional Maths 58 mins 8 questions

Factors of
Polynomials
Operations with Polynomials / Polynomial Division / Factor & Remainder Theorem /
Solving Cubic Equations

Medium (1 question) /6 Scan here for your answers

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Hard (4 questions) /30

Very Hard (3 questions) /22

Total Marks /58

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Medium Questions
1 (a) p(x ) = 15x 3 + 22x 2 − 15x + 2

Find the remainder when p(x ) is divided by x + 1 .

(2 marks)

(b) (i) Show that x + 2 is a factor of p(x ) .

[1]

(ii) Write p(x ) as a product of linear factors.

[3]

(4 marks)

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Hard Questions
1 (a) The polynomial p(x ) = 6x 3 + ax 2 + bx + 2 , where a and b are integers, has a
factor of x–2.
Given that p(1) = – 2p(0) , find the values of a and b .

(4 marks)

(b) Using your values of a and b ,

(i) find the remainder when p(x ) is divided by 2x –1

(ii) factorise p(x ) .

(4 marks)

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2 (a) p(x ) = ax 3 + 3x 2 + bx − 12 has a factor of 2x + 1 . When p(x ) is divided by x − 3 the
remainder is 105.

Find the value of a and of b .

(5 marks)

(b) Using your values of a and b , write p(x ) as a product of 2x + 1 and a quadratic factor.

(2 marks)

(c) Hence solve p(x ) = 0.

(2 marks)

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3 (a) p(x ) = 6x 3 + ax 2 + 12x + b , where a and b are integers.

p(x ) has a remainder of 11 when divided by x − 3 and a remainder of −21 when

divided by x + 1 .
Given that p(x ) = (x − 2) Q (x ) , find Q (x ) , a quadratic factor with numerical
coefficients.

(6 marks)

(b) Hence solve p(x ) = 0.

(2 marks)

1
4 The three roots of p(x ) = 0 , where p(x ) = 2x 3 + ax 2 + bx + c are x = , x = n and
2
x = − n , where a , b , c and n are integers. The y -intercept of the graph of y = p(x ) is
4. Find p(x ) , simplifying your coefficients.

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 (5 marks)

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Very Hard Questions
1 (a) The polynomial p(x ) = ax 3 − 9x 2 + bx − 6 , where a and b are constants, has a factor
of x − 2 . The polynomial has a remainder of 66 when divided by x − 3 .

Find the value of a and of b .

(4 marks)

(b) Using your values of a and b , show that p(x ) = (x − 2)q(x ) , where q(x ) is a quadratic
factor to be found.

(2 marks)

(c) Hence show that the equation p(x ) = 0 has only one real solution.

(2 marks)

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2 (a) p(x ) = 2x 3 − 3x 2 − 23x + 12

⎛1 ⎞⎟
Find the value of p ⎜⎜ ⎟.
⎝2 ⎠

(1 mark)

(b) Write p(x ) as the product of three linear factors and hence solve p(x ) = 0.

(5 marks)

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3 (a) The polynomial p(x ) = ax 3 + bx 2 − 19x + 4 , where a and b are constants, has a
factor x + 4 and is such that 2p(1) = 5p(0) .

Show that p(x ) = (x + 4) (Ax 2 + Bx + C ) , where A , B and C are integers to be found.

(6 marks)

(b) Hence factorise p(x ) .

(1 mark)

(c) Find the remainder when p'(x ) is divided by x .

(1 mark)

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