Basic question from LA: Why do we find Roots of a polynomial?

Question

This may sound like a basic question, but I am sorry to say that I did not find it's answer which completely satisfy my query.

Here is the question: "What is the need to find roots of a polynomial ?" For solving maths equations, it's OK, We need it to find where the function value is zero.

But what is the practical use ? How to connect the real life with math equations and then the roots. Plz try to provide some good examples and not definitions.

Thanks, David

Answer 1

I'm sure you never need to find roots in real life, but in almost all models of real life (as science, geometry, computer games, ...) numbers are involved. Most often they are used to measure sizes.

It turns out that a basic operations with numbers is computing roots. In geometry, this is immediate by the Pythagorean theorem. In models where time is involved you have the notion of a function. Taking test readings you want to construct a function that is reasonable smooth and runs through the given points. In order to make things less complicated you construct a polynomial. Finding the roots of this polynomial is so to speak the decomposition into indecomposable parts.