Algebra 2 Problems of the Day

Continuing with daily Algebra 2 questions and answers.

More Algebra 2 problems.

January 2018
19. If p(x) = 2x³ - 3x + 5, what is the remainder of p(x) : (x - 5)?

(1) -230
(2) 0
(3) 30
(4) 240

Answer: (4) 240
The Polynomial Remainder Theorem tells us that is p(x) is divided by (x - r), then the remainder, R, can be found by evaluating p(r).
If (x - 5) is a factor of p(x), then when x = 5, p(x) would = 0. If it is not a factor, then the value of p(5) will be the remainder when you divide the polynomials.
If you calculate p(5), you will get 2(5)³ - 3(5) + 5 = 240, which is the remainder.
Alternatively, if you forgot this, you can do the polynomial division. This will give you 240 as a remainder. See the image below:

20. The results of simulating tossing a coin 10 times, recording the number of heads, and repeating this 50 times are shown in the graph below.

Based on the results of the simulation, which statement is false?
(1) Five heads occurred most often, which is consistent with the theoretical probability of obtaining a heads.
(2) Eight heads is unusual, as it falls outside the middle 95% of the data.
(3) Obtaining three heads or fewer occurred 28% of the time.
(4) Seven heads is not unusual, as it falls within the middle 95% of the data.

Answer: (2) Eight heads is unusual, as it falls outside the middle 95% of the data.
Eight does not fall outside the middle 95% of the data. There are 50 data points, so 47.5 pieces of data are in the middle, leaving 2.5 / 2 = 1.25 pieces of data more than two standard deviations above and below the mean. But there are two results greater than 8, so it's not outside of the middle 95%.



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