Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A
rational
expression
is
an
algebraic
expression
that
can
be
written
as
the
quotient
of
two
polynomials.
A
rational
expression
is
undefined
if
the
denominator
is
zero,
so
we
write
restrictions
on
the
variables
to
avoid
this.
A
rational
expression
can
be
simplified
by
factoring
the
numerator
and
the
denominator,
and
then
dividing
out
the
common
factors
𝟐𝟏𝒎𝟑 𝒏𝟐
Example
1
𝟔𝒎𝒏𝟒
Example 2
𝑥, − 1
𝑥 , + 4𝑥 + 3
1234
Example
3
5342
1
MHF4U Unit 4 Lesson 0
Multiplying
and
Dividing
Rational
Expressions
To
multiply
or
divide
rational
expressions,
factor
the
numerators
and
the
denominators
(where
possible),
and
then
look
for
common
factors
that
can
be
divided
out.
𝒙𝟐 3𝟗 𝟒𝒙:𝟐𝟎
Example
4
𝟐𝒙3𝟔
𝐱
𝒙𝟐 :𝟔𝒙:𝟗
To
add
or
subtract
rational
expressions,
you
must
have
a
common
denominator.
To
ensure
that
you
will
use
the
lowest
common
denominator,
factor
the
numerators
and
the
denominators
first.
This
will
keep
the
expressions
as
simple
as
possible.
𝟑𝒙:𝟔 𝒙
𝟐3𝟖𝒙:𝟏𝟓
Example
6
𝒙𝟐 3𝟒 − 𝟕𝒙3𝟐𝟏