I'm assuming the question reads: divide 2x^4-5x^3-8x^2-17x-4 by x+4, where the caret (^) means "to the power of". Long division in algebra is similar to long division in arithmetic. We lay out the dividend, which is the long expression, as we would lay out a number we're going to divide into. To the left of it we write the divisor, which is x+4. How many x's go into 2x^4? The answer is 2x^3 because 2x^3*x=2x^4. OK, the first term in the quotient (the answer) is 2x^3. We multiply x+4 by 2x^3, which gives us 2x^4+8x^3, and we write this under the dividend so that the powers of x line up. We should have 2x^4 under 2x^4 in the long expression and 8x^3 under 5x^3 in the long expression. We now have to work out 2x^4-5x^3-(2x^4+8x^3). Always beware of the + and - signs, it's so easy to make a mistake. The subtraction gives us -13x^3. We now look at this result and the next term in the long expression which is -8x^2. How many times does x go into -13x^3? The answer is -13x^2 times. That's the next term in the quotient following 2x^3. Multiply x+4 by -13x^2 and we get -13x^3-52x^2, subtract this from -13x^3-8x^2 and we get 44x^2. We continue the process bringing in successive terms from the dividend until we get to the end, when we'll perhaps be left with a remainder. The answer is the quotient=2x^3-13x^2+44x-193 remainder 768. Is that the answer you get?