The graph of a polynomial function has the following x-intercepts: -9, 5.

Question

The graph of a polynomial function has the following x-intercepts: -9, 5. 

Which of these expressions represents such a function?

I'm not sure if this is correct but I graphed them as (-9,0) and (5,0) and got (x-5) (x+9)

Answer 1

In general, the polynomial will be of the form:

f(x) = a·(x-5)^m(x+9)ⁿ

where a is any constant and m and n are positive integers. Some examples:

For a = m = n = 1: f(x) = (x-5)(x+9)

For a = -2, m = 4, n = 3: f(x) = -2(x-5)⁴(x+9)³