Dividing two vectors of different sizes

If you have two vectors a = [1 2 1]; b = [1 1] that represent polynomials can you divide a by b to get [1 1] as the answer, since (s^2+2s+1)/(s+1) = s+1? I know you can divide the vectors by first converting them to polynomials using poly2sym(a)/poly2sym(b) and then extract the coefficients but is there a simpler way?

Answer 1

[Matt J]

Yep. Just use deconv.

deconv([1,2,1],[1,1])

ans = 1×2

1 1

[Aleem Andrew]

Thank you for your answer

[Aleem Andrew]

Can you divide vectors with deconv or a similar method if the numerator's degree is smaller than the denominator's? I get the incorrect answer 0 when I do so instead of the equivalent of (s+3)/(s^3+17s^2+14s+8).

numg=[1 3]; deng=[1 7 14 8];
deconv(numg,deng)

[Matt J]

What do you think the result should be?