To find the possible rational roots you must have a basic understanding of factoring.

Step one:

Take the factors of the last term (it should be the constant, meaning the number buy it self with no variables)

Step two:

And divide them by the factors of the first term (it should be the term of highest degree, meaning the one with the highest exponent)

Keep in mind when you do this the positive and negative factors are possible roots

Example

In this polynomial   x^3 + 6x +2  (keep in mind that x^3 is “x” cubed)

the factors of 2 are 1,2

and the factor of x^3 (which is really (1)x^3) is one

so +- (1,2)/(1)

that makes the possible roots 1 and 2

because 1 divided by one is 1 and 2 divided by one is 2.

To find out which root(s) work in your equation see my next article