If it has any rational solutions the numerator must be a factor of 4 and the denominator must be a factor of 2, The only possible rational solutions are, , , or Trying the easiest one x = 1 So we divide by x - 1, either synthetically: 1|2 11 1 -10 -4 | 2 13 14 4 2 13 14 4 0 or by long division 2x³ + 13x² + 14x + 4 x - 1)2x4 + 11x³ + x² - 10x - 4 2x4 - 2x³ 13x³ + x² 13x³ - 13x² 14x² - 10x 14x² - 14x 4x - 4 4x - 4 0 You have now factored the original polynomial as (x - 1)(2x³ + 13x² + 14x + 4) Next let's do the same with the cubic polynomial in the second parenthesis: If it has any rational solutions the numerator must be a factor of 4 and the denominator must be a factor of 2, We've already done that. The only possible rational solutions are , , , or You could go to the trouble of trying all those. But sooner of later you'd get around to trying to divide by or Divide by x + .5, either synthetically: -.5|2 13 14 4 | -1 -6 -4 2 12 8 0 or by long division 2x² + 12x + 8 x + .5)2x³ + 13x² + 14x + 4 2x³ + x² 12x² + 14x 12x? + 6x 8x + 4 8x + 4 0 And you have now factored further as (x - 1)(x + .5)(2x² + 12x + 8) Now we can factor 2 out of the third parentheses: (x - 1)(x + .5)2(x² + 6x + 4) 2(x - 1)(x + .5)(x² + 6x + 4) The quadratic will not factor but we can find its roots by using the quadratic formula: So the 4 roots are 1, , , and Edwin