Thread: Solving Ratonal Equations...

I was doing pretty well up until having to deal with x^2 issues in the numerator.

My first issue is with 2- a-2/a+3 = a^2 -4/a+3

I assume that 2 is multiplied a+3 leaving me with 2a + 6. But frankly, after that, I'm at a loss. If I combine like terms on the left hand side of the equation I end up with 3a -4 or do I subtract a from 2a to get 1a?

At any rate, I think that's wrong but I think that if I knew what to do with the a^2-4 on the right hand side, I could likely figure it out from there.

The answer to the problem is 4.

The second one is pretty similar: 4a -3 = a+13/a+1

It seems pretty straightforward in that I multiply 4a and -3 by a+1 to get 4a^2+4 and -3a +3. But again, the ^2 expression comes in and I'm stumped.

The answer to this problem is -2, 2

Any and all help is appreciated very much. Thanks!

Do everyone a favor and learn either LaTeX or precedence (aka order of operations), or both.

Originally Posted by undefined

Do everyone a favor and learn either LaTeX or precedence (aka order of operations), or both.

This will help, but I can't think of a sensible parenthesization that makes the equations true anyway. For example, in "4a -3 = a+13/a+1", 4a-3 doesn't look like a fraction at all, so there's no way it equals something with a fraction in it.