There is no way, for the degree of the numerator is less than the degree of the denominator. Long or synthetic division can only be done if the degree of the numerator is NOT less than the degree of the denominator. However, if it had beeninstead, then there would be a way to perform synthetic division. You would then be dividing -x² by x+5. And first you would need to write: as . Then we would set x+5=0 and get x=-5 and use -5 on the left of the synthetic division: -5|-1 0 0 | 5 -25 -1 5 -25 And the answer would be But divided the way you have it stated, synthetic division is impossible. Edwin