express the fraction in simplest form

**sarky** · July 22nd 2010, 04:38 PM

(1+(1/(x^2-1)))/((1/x)-(x/(x+1)))

**pickslides** · July 22nd 2010, 04:45 PM

Start by making common denominators in both top and bottom of the fraction. You follow?

**sarky** · July 22nd 2010, 04:49 PM

yup i did do that. the answer i got was x^3/(-x^3+2x^2-x-1) but the answer sheet says its x^3/(-x^3+2x^2-1)

**Prove It** · July 22nd 2010, 04:50 PM

Thank you for using brackets, but this is still very hard to read...

Is it $\frac{1 + \frac{1}{x^2 - 1}}{\frac{1}{x} - \frac{x}{x + 1}}$ ?

If so, start by making some common denominators

$\frac{1 + \frac{1}{x^2 - 1}}{\frac{1}{x} - \frac{x}{x + 1}} = \frac{\frac{x^2 - 1}{x^2 - 1} + \frac{1}{x^2 - 1}}{\frac{x + 1}{x(x + 1)} - \frac{x^2}{x(x + 1)}}$

$= \frac{\frac{x^2}{x^2 - 1}}{\frac{-x^2 + x + 1}{x(x + 1)}}$

$= \frac{\frac{x^2}{(x - 1)(x + 1)}}{\frac{-x^2 + x + 1}{x(x + 1)}}$

$= \frac{x^3(x + 1)}{(x - 1)(x + 1)(-x^2 + x + 1)}$

$= \frac{x^3}{(x - 1)(-x^2 + x + 1)}$ .

**sarky** · July 22nd 2010, 04:55 PM

yup i've got it now. thanks!

Thread: express the fraction in simplest form

LinkBack

Thread Tools

Display

express the fraction in simplest form

Similar Math Help Forum Discussions

Perform the indicated operations and express in simplest form:

express in simplest form

express in simplest form

Express in Simplest Form

Multiply and Express Product in simplest form.

Search Tags