Sal explains why synthetic division gives you the same result as traditional algebraic long division. Created by Sal Khan.

And we could simplify this by using traditional algebraic long division. But what we're going to cover in this video is a slightly different technique, and we call it synthetic division.

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Rewrite expressions of the form a(x)/b(x), where a is a polynomial b is a linear binomial, in the form q(x)+r(x)/b(x), where q and r are polynomials and the degree of r is less than the degree of b.

Sal divides (2x^5-x^3+3x^2-2x+7) by (x-3) using synthetic division.

After we have added, subtracted, and multiplied polynomials, it's time to divide them! This will prove to be a little bit more sophisticated. It turns out that not every polynomial division results in a …

And now let me just draw my little funky synthetic division operator-looking symbol. And remember, the type of synthetic division we're doing, it only applies when we are dividing by an x plus or minus …

Divide the given polynomial by the given binomial using synthetic division and rewrite the function. If there is no remainder, write 0 .

Learn how to use synthetic division as another approach to solve polynomials. Created by Sal Khan.

For example, you can use synthetic division to divide a polynomial by (x + 2) or (x – 6), but you cannot use synthetic division to divide by 6x, or (2x + 3) or (3x^2 – x + 3).