Month: December 2021

Factoring a Quartic Polynomial

Factoring a quadratic polynomial (degree 2) is a standard topic in algebra; but for higher degrees, things get a lot harder. Here we’ll look at some old questions from the Ask Dr. Math site about factoring quartic (degree 4) polynomials. There is no standard method, but several interesting tricks you might want to know about.

A Tunnel Through the Earth

I have a very short problem this week: How deep will you go if you dig a straight tunnel through the earth, how long will it be, and what angle do you have to start at?