In a previous task, I was asked to factor $1+x+x^2+x^3$ for $x \in \mathbb{R}$, which I accomplished by solving
$1+x+x^2+x^3 = 0 \to $
$1+x(1+x+x^2) = 0 \to $
$x(1+x+x^2) = -1$
which has a solution $x = -1$, and thus I knew $(x+1)$ was a factor. A bit of guesswork gave me $(x+1)(x^2+1)$.
Now I'm asked to factor $1+x+x^2+x^3+...+x^{14}$ for $x \in \mathbb{R}$ and I'm a bit stuck. Again, we have the implication $x(1+x+x^2+...+x^{13}) = -1$, for which $x=-1$ is a solution, so again we have a factor $x+1$. But now I cannot apply guesswork to determining the rest of the factors, so I feel there is some kind of conclusion I can draw about the powers (perhaps their parity) to solve this problem?