What are the additional linear factors of x3−6x2+11x−6 if x−3 is a factor? (1 point) Responses (x−2)(x−1) left parenthesis x minus 2 right parenthesis left parenthesis x minus 1 right parenthesis (x−2)(x+1) left parenthesis x minus 2 right parenthesis left parenthesis x plus 1 right parenthesis (x+2)(x−1) left parenthesis x plus 2 right parenthesis left parenthesis x minus 1 right parenthesis (x+2)(x+1)

1 answer

To find the additional linear factors of the polynomial \( x^3 - 6x^2 + 11x - 6 \) given that \( x - 3 \) is a factor, we can perform polynomial long division or synthetic division to divide the polynomial by \( x - 3 \).

Let's perform synthetic division with the root \( x = 3 \):

3 |  1  -6  11  -6
  |      3  -9   6
--------------------
     1  -3   2   0

The result of the synthetic division is \( x^2 - 3x + 2 \), and the remainder is 0, confirming that \( x - 3 \) is indeed a factor. Thus, we can express the polynomial as:

\[ x^3 - 6x^2 + 11x - 6 = (x - 3)(x^2 - 3x + 2) \]

Next, we need to factor \( x^2 - 3x + 2 \):

To factor \( x^2 - 3x + 2 \), we look for two numbers that multiply to \( 2 \) (the constant term) and add up to \(-3\) (the coefficient of \( x \)). The numbers \(-2\) and \(-1\) work:

\[ x^2 - 3x + 2 = (x - 2)(x - 1) \]

Therefore, the complete factorization of the original polynomial can be expressed as:

\[ x^3 - 6x^2 + 11x - 6 = (x - 3)(x - 2)(x - 1) \]

The additional linear factors of the polynomial, besides \( x - 3 \), are:

\[ (x - 2)(x - 1) \]

Thus, the answer is:

\[ \text{(x−2)(x−1)} \]