Milburn O.

Macalos
Department of Mathematics
Caraga State University

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Problems Solving
Involving Polynomial
EquationsPolynomial E
 Problem solving skills is a process, and consists of
several steps which are applied sequentially.
A. Understand the Problem
Read the problem. What are the given facts?
B. Plan Your Approach
Choose a strategy .
C. Complete the Work
Apply the strategy. Use the algebra you know to
apply the strategy to solve the problem
.
.
D. Interpret the Results
. State your answer then check. Does
.
your answer make sense? Does it
satisfy the conditions of the problem?
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 In the TLE Class at General Emilio Aguinaldo National High
School, the boys of G10 – Pythagoras was asked to build a
huge wooden rectangular container with a volume of
60𝑚3 .The width of the rectangular container is 2 m less
than the length and the height is 1 m less than the length.
Find the dimensions of the container.
Solution:
A. Understand the Problem
After reading and understanding the problem, sometimes it
is much easier to understand if we draw a diagram.

.
 B. Plan Your Approach
Choose a strategy. The strategy to use is to translate the
facts in the problem into an equation. Then solve to find the
answer.
Assign variables to represent the unknown
Let 𝑥 represent the length
W=2m<L Then 𝑥 − 2 will be the width
H=1m<L 𝑥 − 1 the height.
𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒖𝒍𝒂:
𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 =𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑥 𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑡ℎ 𝑥 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
.

. 60 = 𝑥(𝑥 − 2)(𝑥 − 1)
.
60 = 𝑥 3 − 3𝑥 2 + 2𝑥
.

.
𝑥 3 − 3𝑥 2 + 2𝑥 − 60 = 0
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 C. Complete the Work
𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑥 3 − 3𝑥 2 + 2𝑥 − 60 = 0 𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑦𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐
𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑥=5
𝑥=6
5
1 −3 2 −60
6
5 10 60
1 −3 2 −60
6 18 120 1 2 12 0
If the value of the remainder is
1 3 20 60 = 0 then 5 is a solution.
If the value of the remainder is
.

. not = 0 then 6 is not a solution

. .
.

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𝑈𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑
 Rewrite the answer in polynomial form
1 2 12 0 𝒙𝟑 − 𝟑𝒙𝟐 + 𝟐𝒙 + 𝟔𝟎 = 𝟎
𝒙𝟐 + 𝟐𝒙 + 𝟏𝟐 = 𝟎 Solve the quadratic equation
Quadratic Formula:
𝑎=1 𝑏 = 2 𝑐 = 12 𝑊𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 1 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑥 = 5
−𝒃 ± 𝒃𝟐 − 𝟒𝒂𝒄 𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑥 𝐻𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑥 − 1
𝒙= 𝑳𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉 = 𝟓 𝐻𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 = 5 − 1
𝟐𝒂
𝑯𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 = 𝟒
−(2) ± (2)2 −4(1)(12) 𝑊𝑖𝑑𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑥 − 2
𝑥= 𝑊𝑖𝑑𝑡ℎ = 𝟓 − 𝟐
2(1)
. −2 ± 4 − 48 𝑾𝒊𝒅𝒕𝒉 = 𝟑
. 𝑥=
. 2 Reject the solutions,
. −2 ± −44 since they are not real
. 𝑥= numbers
.
2
 D. Interpret the Results
The container is 5 m long, 3 m wide, and 4 m high. Is
the volume of the container 60𝑚3 ?

𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 = 𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉 𝒙 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒕𝒉 𝒙 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕

60𝑚3 = 5 𝑚 𝑥 3 𝑚 𝑥 4 𝑚
60𝑚3 = 60𝑚3
.

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 Find four rational numbers such that the product of the
first, third and fourth numbers is 54. Also the second
number is 2 less than the first number, the third is 5 less
than the second, and the fourth is 3 less than the third
Solution:
A. Understand the Problem
You are asked to find 4 rational numbers
that satisfies the given conditions. Equation:
𝑥(𝑥 − 7)(𝑥 − 10) = 54
B. Plan Your Approach 𝟑 − 17𝒙𝟐 + 70𝑥 − 54 = 0
Let 𝑥 = 1 number
st 𝒙
𝑥 - 2 = 2nd number (The 2nd is 2 less than the 1st )
𝑥 - 7 = 3rd number (The 3rd is five less than the 2nd .)
.

. 𝑥 - 10 = 4th number (The 4th is three less than the 3rd .)

. The product of the 1st, 3rd and 4th number is 54.
.

.
Therefore, the equation will be:
 C. Complete the Work
𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑥 3 − 17𝑥 2 + 70𝑥 − 54 = 0 𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑦𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐
𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑥=1
𝑥=2
1
2 1 −17 70 −54

1 −17 70 −54 1 −16 54

2 -30 80 1 −16 54 0
If the value of the
1 −15 40 16 remainder is = 0 then 1 is
a solution.
.

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If the value of the remainder is
not = 0 then 2 is not a solution
.

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.

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 Rewrite the answer in polynomial form
1 −16 54 0 𝒙𝟑 − 𝟏𝟕𝒙𝟐 + 𝟕𝟎𝒙 + 𝟓𝟒 = 𝟎
𝒙𝟐 − 𝟏𝟔𝒙 + 𝟓𝟒 = 𝟎 Solve the quadratic equation
Quadratic Formula: 16 ± 2 10
𝑎 = 1 𝑏 = −16 𝑐 = 54 𝑥=
2
−𝒃 ± 𝒃𝟐 − 𝟒𝒂𝒄 𝑥 = 8 ± 10
𝒙=
𝟐𝒂 Reject the solutions,
−(−16) ± (−16)2 −4(1)(54) since they are not
𝑥=
2(1) rational numbers
.
16 ± 256 − 216
.
𝑥=
. 2
.
16 ± 40
. 𝑥=
. 2
 𝑊𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 1 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑥 = 1
𝑥 = 1st number 𝑥 - 7 = 3rd number 𝑥 - 10 = 4th number
1st number = 1 1 - 7 = 3rd number 1 - 10 = 4th number
𝑥 - 2 = 2nd number 3𝑟𝑑 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 = −6 4𝑡ℎ 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 = −9
1 - 2 = 2nd number
2𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 = −1
D. Interpret the Results
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝟏, −𝟏, −𝟔, −𝟗
𝐼𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 54?
.

. 1 −6 −9 = 54
.
54 = 54
.

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 .