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Descartes' Rule of Signs

Descartes' Rule of Signs is a useful help for finding

the zeroes of a polynomial, assuming that you
don't have the graph to look at. This topic isn't so
useful if you have access to a graphing calculator
because, rather than having to do guess-n-check
to find the zeroes (using the Rational Root Test,
Descartes' Rule of Signs, synthetic division, and
other tools), you can just look at the picture on the
screen. But if you need to use it, the Rule is
actually quite simple.

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Use Descartes' Rule of Signs to

determine the number of real zeroes of:
f (x) = x5 x4 + 3x3 + 9x2 x + 5.
Descartes' Rule of Signs will not tell you where the polynomial's zeroes are (you'll need to use the
Rational Roots Test and synthetic division, or draw a graph, to actually find the roots), but the Rule will
tell you how many roots you can expect.
First, I look at the polynomial as it stands, not changing the sign on x, so this is the "positive"
case:

f (x) = x5 x4 + 3x3 + 9x2 x + 5

Ignoring the actual values of the coefficients, I then look at the signs on those coefficients:

f (x) = +x5 x4+ 3x3+ 9x2 x+ 5

I draw little lines underneath to highlight where the signs change from positive to negative or from
negative to positive from one term to the next:

Then I count the number of changes:

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There are four sign changes in the "positive" case. This number "four" is the maximum possible
number of positive zeroes (x-intercepts) for the polynomial f (x) = x5 x4 + 3x3 + 9x2 x + 5.
However, some of the roots may be generated by the Quadratic Formula, and these pairs of roots
may be complex and thus not graphable as x-intercepts. Because of this possibility, I have to
count down by two's to find the complete list of the possible number of zeroes. That is, while there
may be as many as four real zeroes, there might also be only two, and there might also be zero
(none at all).
Now I look at

f (x) (that is, having changed the sign on x, so this is the "negative" case):

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f (x) = (x)5 (x)4 + 3(x)3 + 9(x)2 (x) + 5

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= x5 x4 3x3 + 9x2 + x + 5

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I look at the signs:

f (x) = x5 x4 3x3+ 9x2+ x+ 5

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your personal use.

...and I count the number of sign changes:

There is only one sign change in this "negative" case, so there is exactly one negative root. (In
this case, I don't try to count down by two's, because the first subtraction would give me a
negative number.)
There are 4,

2, or 0 positive roots, and exactly 1 negative root.

Some texts have you evaluate f (x) at x = 1 (for the positive roots) and at x = 1 (for the negative
roots), so you would get the expressions "1 1 + 3 + 9 1 + 5" and "1 1 3 + 9 + 1 + 5",
respectively. But you would not simplify, and the numerical values would not be the point; you would
analyze only the signs, as shown above.

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Using Descartes' Rule of Signs, determine the number of real solutions to

4x7 + 3x6 + x5 + 2x4 x3 + 9x2 + x + 1 = 0.
I look first at the polynomial

f (x) (this is the "positive" case):

f (x) = +4x7 + 3x6+ x5+ 2x4 x3+ 9x2+ x+ 1

There are two sign changes, so there are two or, counting down in pairs, zero positive solutions.
Now I look at the polynomial f (x) (this is the "negative" case):

f (x) = 4(x)7 + 3(x)6 + (x)5 + 2(x)4 (x)3 + 9(x)2 + (x) + 1

= 4x7 + 3x6 x5+ 2x4+ x3+ 9x2 x+ 1
There are five sign changes, so there are five or, counting down in pairs, three or one negative
solutions. Copyright Elizabeth Stapel 2002-2011 All Rights Reserved
There are two or zero positive solutions, and five, three, or one negative solutions.
In the above example, the maximum number of positive solutions (two) and the maximum number of
negative solutions (five) added up to the leading degree (seven). It will always be true that the sum of the
possible numbers of positive and negative solutions will be equal to the degree of the polynomial, or two
less, or four less, or.... For instance, if I had come up with a maximum answer of "two" for the possible
positive solutions in the above example but had come up with only, say, "four" for the possible negative
solutions, then I would have known that I had made a mistake somewhere, because 2 + 4 does not
equal 7, or 5, or 3, or 1.
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Use Descartes' Rule of Signs to find the number of real roots of

f (x) = x5 + x4 + 4x3 + 3x2 + x + 1.
I look first at

f (x):

f (x) = +x5 + x4+ 4x3+ 3x2+ x+ 1

There are no sign changes, so there are no positive roots. Now I look at

f (x) = (x)5 + (x)4 + 4(x)3 + 3(x)2 + (x) + 1

f (x):

= x5 + x4 4x3+ 3x2 x+ 1
There are five sign changes, so there are as many as five negative roots.
There are no positive roots, and there are five, three, or one negative roots.
Use Descartes' Rule of Signs to determine the possible number of solutions to the equation
2x4 x3 + 4x2 5x + 3 = 0.
I look first at

f (x):

f (x) = +2x4 x3+ 4x2 5x+ 3

There are four sign changes, so there are 4, 2, or 0 positive roots. Now I look at

f (x):

f (x) = 2(x)4 (x)3 + 4(x)2 5(x) + 3

= +2x4 + x3+ 4x2+ 5x+ 3
There are no sign changes, so there are no negative roots.
There are four, two, or zero positive roots, and zero negative roots.
Descartes' Rule of Signs can be useful for helping
you figure out (if you don't have a graphing
calculator that can show you) where to look for the
zeroes of a polynomial. For instance, if the
Rational Roots Test gives you a long list of
potential zeroes, and you've found one negative
zero, and the Rule of Signs says that there is at
most one negative root, then you know that you
should start looking at positive roots, because
there are no more negative roots, rational or
otherwise.

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Similarly, if you've found, say, two positive

solutions, and the Rule of Signs says that you
should have, say, five or three or one positive
solutions, then you know that, since you've found
two, there is at least one more (to take you up to
three), and maybe three more (to take you up to
five), so you should keep looking for a positive
solution.

By the way, in case you're wondering why Descartes' Rule of Signs works, don't. The proof is long and
involved; you can study it after you've taken calculus and proof theory and some other, more advanced,
classes. I found an interesting paper online (in Adobe Acrobat format) that contains proofs of many
aspects of finding polynomial zeroes, and the section on the Rule of Signs goes on for seven pages.

You can use the Mathway widget below to practice finding the maximum number of real-number roots of a
polynomial. Try the entered exercise, or type in your own exercise. Then click "Answer" to compare your
answer to Mathway's.

Basic Math

+ 9x

Algebra

Pre-Algebra

Trigonometry

Precalculus

+ 23x + 15

Find Maximum Number of Real Roots/Zeros

Answer

Identify the Common Factors

Find the Range
Rewrite Using Negative Exponents
Find Where Increasing/Decreasing
Determine if Prime
Reorder in Ascending Order
Determine if a Perfect Square
Find the Leading Term
Find the Maximum Number of Roots
Find the HCF
Plot
Find Maximum Number of Real Roots/Zeros
(Clicking on "View Steps" on the widget's answer screen will take you to the Mathway site, where you can
register for a free seven-day trial of the software.)
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Cite this article as:

Stapel, Elizabeth. "Descartes' Rule of Signs." Purplemath. Available from

http://www.purplemath.com/modules/drofsign.htm. Accessed 06 November 2014

Copyright 2002-2014 Elizabeth Stapel | About | Terms of Use | Linking | Site Licensing

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