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Introduction
When it comes to rational expressions, with polynomials in both the numerator and denominator,
doing the math to calculate the roots may seem tricky.

However, remember that the roots, or solutions, to an equation are the same as the x-intercepts of
the graph. We have already learned how to determine the x-intercepts of a rational function:
simply equate the numerator to zero and solve.

Take, for example, an equation like:

The roots (i.e. the zeros, the x-intercepts) are where . Use Graph (or Grapher for Mac
users) as you have done in the past.

Be sure to put parentheses around the monomials like this: (x-2)/(x-3). The graph should look like:

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From this, we can determine that the only root of the equation is at x = 2.

This is the same solution as if we were to take the numerator and equate it to zero:

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