Proof of the Polynomial Remainder Theorem
The remainder theorem states when a polynomial denoted as is divided by
for some value of
, whether real or unreal, the remainder of
Written below is the proof of the polynomial remainder theorem.
All polynomials can be written in the form $f(x)=d(x)\cdot\q(x)+r(x)$ (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg), where is the divisor of the function/polynomial
,
is the quotient. amd
is the remainder. Because the
or $deg r\less\deg d$ (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg) and the
, degrees must be whole numbers, and so
. So to speak,
is a constant. We denote this constant
.
Knowing this, we can write
$f(x)=d(x)\cdot\q(x)+b$ (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg)
$f(x)=(x-a)\cdot\q(x)+b$ (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg)
$f(a)=(a-a)\cdot\q(a)+b$ (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg)
We have hereby proven when the quantity is divided into a polynomial
of any degree, the value of
, where b is the remainder. The remainder must be a constant because
.