Thread: Dividing a quadratic by a linear.

i am lost with problems like these, can someone please help and explain step by step?

Factorise both the numerator and denominator.

Numerator:



That can be factorised to:

Denominator:



That can be factorised to:

Now we have a fraction that looks like this:



Now have a think of what you do next....

Originally Posted by jgv115

Factorise both the numerator and denominator.

Numerator:



That can be factorised to:

Denominator:



That can be factorised to:

No, it can't! You were thinking of .

Now we have a fraction that looks like this:



Now have a think of what you do next....

That should be

By the way, wonderd, you never did say what you wanted to do with that expression!

Originally Posted by wonderd

i am lost with problems like these, can someone please help and explain step by step?

You're probably expected to do a polynomial long division to get the result here: simplify (2x^2 - x - 3)/(x - 1) - Wolfram|Alpha

Your textbook and class notes should have examples ....?

Oops Thanks for clearing that up hallsofivy =="