SSATSuite
Know Your Keywords — Math, Advanced

Point 2Predicting factors for quadratic polynomial

What do we see?

One factor of a quadratic polynomial is given.

What do we understand?

Use the coefficients of the polynomial to predict the other factor.

Tips & traps

Ask yourself: why is this not the same as Question 6 from Point 1? Because the greatest value is asked for — the discriminant gives a bound, not the extreme integer case.

Ask yourself: why can’t we simply plug in a positive integer for b?

Question 1 of 2

38z14 + bz7 + 70

In the given expression, b is a positive integer. If qz7 + r is a factor of the expression, where q and r are positive integers, what is the greatest possible value of b?