f(x)=5x4-7x³+17x²-21x+6 The possible rational zeros (if any) are positive or negative fractions whose numerators are factors of 6 and whose denominators are factors of 5 The factors of 6 are 1,2,3,6 (possible numerators) The factors of 5 are 1,5 (possible denominators) Possible fractions are 1/1, 1/5. 2/1, 2/5, 3/1, 3/5, 6/1, 6/5 They reduce to 1, 1/5, 2, 2/5, 3, 3/5, 6, 6/5 They could be positive or negative, so all possible rational zeros are: ±1, ±1/5, ±2, ±2/5, ±3, ±3/5, ±6, ±6/5 We will try the easiest one first, which is 1, using synthetic division to see if we get 0 remainder: 1|5 -7 17 -21 6 | 5 -2 15 -6 5 -2 15 -6 0 We're in luck. It worked. So we have now factored the original f(x)=5x4-7x³+17x²-21x+6 as f(x)= (x - 1)(5x³ - 2x² + 15x - 6) Now we try to factor the polynomial in the second parentheses: First we change the parentheses ( ) to brackets [ ] so we can put parentheses inside with less confusion: f(x)= (x - 1)[5x³ - 2x² + 15x - 6] Out of the first two terms in the bracket we can factor out x²: f(x)= (x - 1)[x²(5x - 2) + 15x - 6] Out of the last two terms we can factor out 3: f(x)= (x - 1)[x²(5x - 2) + 3(5x - 2)] Now we have a common factor of (5x - 2) f(x) = (x - 1)[(5x - 2)(x² + 3)] We don't need the brackets anymore: f(x) = (x - 1)(5x - 2)(x² + 3) To find the zeros we set each factor = 0 x - 1 = 0; 5x - 2 = 0; x² + 3 = 0 x = 1; 5x = 2; x² = -3 _ x = 2/5 x = ±i√3 (not real) So the correct choice is D Edwin