Adding Rational Expressions
In this lesson, the focus is on how to add rational expressions that are in fractional form. The first step is to factor everything that you can. Once you've factored, you need to rewrite the expressions so that they have common denominators. Then, you can simplify numerators and combine like terms if possible. Finally, further factoring may or may not be possible.
When adding rational expressions that are in fractional form, the trick is to rewrite those expressions so that they have common denominators. One of the denominators may already have a factor of the other term so you only have to multiply one of the terms by one of the factors in order to get a common denominator. Once you have common denominators, then simplify numerators and combine like terms if possible. Further factoring might or might not be possible.
- How do you add 2 rational expressions?
- How do you add (x + 5)/(x + 3) + (-12x - 4)/(x^2 - 4x - 21)?
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Staff Review
This lesson goes through a rather complicated example of adding 2 rational expressions with different denominators. One denominator is a simple binomial while the other is a quadratic expression. This problem requires factoring, finding common denominators, and adding expressions. All steps are explained very well.
