Solve the Polynomial Equation: x⁵ - 4x⁴ = 0

Question

x54x4=0 x^5-4x^4=0

Video Solution

Solution Steps

00:00 Find X
00:03 Factor with the X term to the fourth power
00:12 Take out the common factor from the parentheses
00:22 This is one solution that zeroes the equation
00:27 Now let's check which solutions zero the second factor
00:32 And this is the solution to the question

Step-by-Step Solution

The equation in the problem is:

x54x4=0 x^5-4x^4=0

First note that in the left side we can factor the expression using a common factor, the largest common factor for the numbers and variables in this case is x4 x^4 since the fourth power is the lowest power in the equation and therefore is included both in the term with the fifth power and in the term with the fourth power, any power higher than this is not included in the term with the fourth power, which is the lowest, and therefore this is the term with the highest power that can be factored out as a common factor from all terms in the expression, so we'll continue and perform the factoring:

x54x4=0x4(x4)=0 x^5-4x^4=0 \\ \downarrow\\ x^4(x-4)=0

Let's continue and address the fact that in the left side of the equation we got in the last step there is a multiplication of algebraic expressions and on the right side the number 0, therefore, since the only way to get 0 from multiplication is to multiply by 0, at least one of the expressions in the multiplication on the left side must equal zero,

meaning:

x4=0/4x=±0x=0 x^4=0 \hspace{8pt}\text{/}\sqrt[4]{\hspace{6pt}}\\ x=\pm0\\ \boxed{x=0} (In this case taking the even root of the right side of the equation will yield two possibilities - positive and negative, however since we're dealing with zero, we get only one solution)

Or:

x4=0x=4 x-4=0\\ \downarrow\\ \boxed{x=4}

Let's summarize the solution of the equation:

x54x4=0x4(x4)=0x4=0x=0x4=0x=4x=0,4 x^5-4x^4=0 \\ \downarrow\\ x^4(x-4)=0 \\ \downarrow\\ x^4=0 \rightarrow\boxed{ x=0}\\ x-4=0 \rightarrow \boxed{x=4}\\ \downarrow\\ \boxed{x=0,4}

Therefore the correct answer is answer C.

Answer

x=4,x=0 x=4,x=0