Why do the nonreal zeros of a real polynomial come in conjugate pairs, and when does x² + bx + c refuse to factor?
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Nonreal zeros of real polynomials come in conjugate pairs
State the result for with real coefficients and write out the proof: conjugate both sides of , naming the conjugate property used at each step.
When factors over :
Write the completed-square identity and carry out both directions, including the explicit real factors built from .
Existence of the factorization over
State the factorization with , expand , and reproduce the argument that the quotient has real coefficients, finishing by induction on degree.
Uniqueness of the factorization over
Write each irreducible quadratic factor as and record how two different real factorizations would yield two different complex ones, contradicting uniqueness over .