What is the first term of the quotient of the following division problem?

(x3 - 1) : (x + 2)

-0.5

1

x2

x4

The first term of the quotient is 3. First you need to simplify the division problem. The problem becomes 3x - 1 : x + 2 - 4.08 (since 0.51x2x4 = 4.08). This is simplified further into 3x - 1 : x - 2.08. Now you can take the dividend, 3x-1 and divide it by the divisor, x-2.08. Since have the same power of x, all you need to do is see how many times x goes into 3x - three times. this is the first term of the quotient.