Question

x^5-2x^4+x^2-7x+1

-----------------
x+1

do synthetic division

Answer 1

No, you try to first. It is just like long division with numbers.

The first term will be x^4.

Did you leave out an x^3 term in the dividend? There will be a remainder.

Google "polynomial long division" for assistance. One good site is

http://webgraphing.com/polydivision.jsp