f(x) = 7x³-x²+7x-1 Factor the first two terms: f(x) = x²(7x-1)+7x-1 Factor the last two terms. [Note: that you can always factor a 1 out of any expression, even prime polynomials] So we factor 1 out of the last two terms: f(x) = x²(7x-1)+1(7x-1) Now we can factor out (7x-1) f(x) = (7x-1)(x²+1) x²+1 is the sum of two squares but we can make it into the difference of two squares by using the fact that 1 = -i², so we substitute -i² for 1 in the second parentheses: f(x) = (7x-1)(x²-i²) f(x) = (7x-1)(x-i)(x+i) That is the factored form of f(x) The zeros are found by setting f(x) = 0 and solving for x (7x-1)(x-i)(x+i) = 0 7x-1=0; x-i=0; x+i=0 7x=1; x=i; x=-i x=The three zeros are , i, and -i. Edwin