High School

In the synthetic-division problem shown below, what number belongs in the place of the question mark?

```
2 | 1 -2 -8 5
| ?
|______________
```

10

Answer :

Final answer:

The number that belongs in the place of the question mark is 2.

Explanation:

The number that belongs in the place of the question mark is 2.



Given the synthetic-division problem and the numbers provided, we need to find the missing number in the division process. Synthetic division is used to divide polynomials without actually performing long division. We start by dividing the first term of the dividend (5) by the divisor (2) to get the quotient (2). Next, we multiply the divisor by this quotient (2 * 2 = 4) and subtract it from the next term of the dividend (-8 - 4 = -12). We repeat this process until we have divided all terms.



In this case, the last term after all the divisions is 2, so the number that belongs in the place of the question mark is 2.