Descartes' Rule of Signs
How Descartes' Rule of Signs Works
Descartes' Rule of Signs helps predict the number of possible positive, negative, and non-real roots of a polynomial.
Positive Real Roots
The number of positive real roots is either equal to the number of sign changes between consecutive non-zero coefficients of \(P(x)\), or less than that by an even number.
Negative Real Roots
The number of negative real roots is either equal to the number of sign changes between consecutive non-zero coefficients of \(P(-x)\), or less than that by an even number.
Non-Real Roots
The total number of roots equals the polynomial's degree. The number of non-real (complex) roots is what's left over after accounting for the positive, negative, and zero roots.
Enter the coefficients of your polynomial to find the possible number of real and non-real roots.
| Positive (+) | Negative (-) | Non-Real (i) | Total |
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