Algebra 2 Help

[PeaceLoveJoy]

Random place to ask this....but I need help with an Algebra 2 question, if someone can help that'd be great....I have to find the real number solutions of this equation
x^3-5x^2+8x-4=0

[alan t]

The roots are small integers. Just guess and you'll find them

[Bryan90]

The answer depends if you're in University or high school.... For high school, you can just guess as alan_t mentioned.

In university, it depends if they want you to just find the roots using a graphic calculator or actually solve it using like Cardano's method or Legrange's method. Wikipedia will shed some light...

[theJosephDean]

The only thing I see to do is factor out an (x - 1), which you can do by either long dividing into it or synthetically divide. Either way, you're gonna get (x - 2)^2.

So it turns into [(x-2)^2][x-1] = 0

So x = 1, x = 2.

Reallyyy small integers :P

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Edit: After posting, I realise that exactly what I said might sound confusing depending on what you've actually been taught in class. xD I'm too tired to think of the explanation; I only see the answer. Yay for being a math major x_x

[Bryan90]

Originally Posted by theJosephDean

The only thing I see to do is factor out an (x - 1), which you can do by either long dividing into it or synthetically divide. Either way, you're gonna get (x - 2)^2.

So it turns into [(x-2)^2][x-1] = 0

So x = 1, x = 2.

Reallyyy small integers :P

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Edit: After posting, I realise that exactly what I said might sound confusing depending on what you've actually been taught in class. xD I'm too tired to think of the explanation; I only see the answer. Yay for being a math major x_x

That's kind of cheating isn't it? It's like figuring out the roots and then just factoring it out of the cubic equation :P But I guess again, it depends what level he is at. But looking at the equation and at the roots, I suppose it was not meant to be difficult...