Synthetic Division in Algebra 2

Need to know how to do synthetic division? Could you use a free math cheat sheet for the algorithm and a video to go along with it? Well you're in the right place!

I originally wrote this synthetic division post years ago after making a cheat sheet to help our inclusion Algebra 2 students with synthetic division. All these years later I am back to update the post with a synthetic division video to go along with the free math cheat sheet download.


Need to know how to do synthetic division? Could you use a free math cheat sheet for the algorithm and a video to go along with it? Well you're in the right place!

Synthetic division, sort of like long division, is a pretty simple process that isn't at all intuitive. It's a great way to find the zeros of a polynomial, especially those with imaginary zeros, but it is an algorithm that needs memorizing and reviewing.

The year I made this sheet we were getting ready for our mid-year exam and were in the middle of a polynomials unit. A quiz was coming up and I realized some kids could use a little extra support with synthetic division. So I made this cheat sheet for them to put in their notebooks. Now coming back to this post to update it all these years later, I reviewed the sheet myself to make the video!


Why do we use synthetic division?

We use it to find the zeros of a polynomial, especially those that have imaginary zeros where the graph's number of zeros does not match its degree. 

In our algebra 2 class we use synthetic division. Because I know other algebra 2 classes also learn polynomial long division, I made a reference sheet for that method, too.

synthetic division cheat sheet (free)
synthetic division cheat sheet (free)


You can find the free synthetic division cheat sheet here.

9 comments:

  1. This is beautiful. You have a gift for it!

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    1. Thank you Lisa! I realized im my Synthetic Division excitement that I never completed the problem! That'll come tomorrow...:)

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  2. Love this! I just taught this today and would love to give this to my students to add to their folders. Fun and creative, thank you!

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  3. I'm getting ready to teach on Tuesday...thanks for the great reference sheet.

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  4. Love the resource sheet! It is so neatly organized and includes everything my students need to know. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. You're so welcome! I'm glad to help. I really do have to refresh on this every year. It's such a weird process so I know the kids must be like, "Whaaaaaat?" HA!

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    2. I introduced my students to it earlier this year but am going more in depth soon. This will be a great refresher for them and will hopefully help them understand the process a little better. They had the same reaction as your kids. When I told them they had to multiply and add they looked at me like I had 5 heads and was speaking a foreign language!

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