Polynomial Functions – What You Need to Know
Providing students familiarity and facility with general polynomial functions is one of the most important goals of every advanced algebra course. There’s a lot to learn, and it’s common to devote several weeks to covering key aspects of these functions and their graphs. Fortunately, only a small number of key concepts and processes must be mastered to ace the SAT/ACT. Following is a list of facts you need to know about polynomial functions. - [Note: “iff” means “if and only if.”] Definition Polynomial functions: functions of the form p(x) = ax^n+bx^(n–1)+cx^(n–2)+…+z. Polynomial Standard form y = ax^n+bx^(n–1)+cx^(n–2)+…+z. Factored form y = a(x–s1)(x–s2) Let y = 0. s1, s1 … are solutions (a.k.a. “roots”) iff s1, s2, … are x-intercepts (a.k.a “zeros”). Zeros are values of x for which y equals zero (i.e x-intercepts). Factors of p(x) iff zeros of p(x) iff x-intercepts iff roots iff solutions of p(x) = 0. That is, “factors,” “zeros,” "x-intercepts," “roots,” and “solutions” a...