MATH STINGER #47
by Dr. Joel C. Fowler
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Since no solutions have been received to the factoring puzzles of last issue I will restate them with some additions. Each of the following polynomials is to be as completely factored as possible using only integers as coefficients. ( ^ denotes exponentiation). 1) x^4 + 4 2) x^4 + x^2 + 1 3) x^5 + x^4 + x^3 + x^2 + x + 1 4) 2x^4 + 3x^3 - 1 5) x^8 - 16 6) x^3 + 3x^2 + 3x - 7