Thread: Setting equation = 0 with multiple fractional powers

Hello

I have an equation

If I try to solve this by multiplying both sides by same as denominator I get into complicated scenarios. Is there an easy way to handle this sort of thing?

Angus

Do you get complicated scenarios? If I multiply both sides by the denominator, I get:



But I wouldn't even have to do that. If a fraction is equal to 0, then the numerator has to be 0. There is no other possibility. So by glancing, I would immediately be able to come to the above conclusion.

Originally Posted by Quacky

If a fraction is equal to 0, then the numerator has to be 0. There is no other possibility. So by glancing, I would immediately be able to come to the above conclusion.

Not sure if I understand the bit about only way is if numerator is zero? I am not disagreeing, just not sure I understand the logic.

Basically it's because divided by anything is .

Let's start with .

Do you understand that ?
And that ?

So...

If, as a completely random example,

...and, of course,

Then

Can you see here that this means that the numerators are equal?

With fractions, the only possible way you can get a result of 0 is if the numerator of the fraction is .

Ah I see. So the denominator is irrelevent. It could be anything. [Presumably the only thing it can't be is zero - because that would result in an infinite number].

Originally Posted by angypangy

Ah I see. So the denominator is irrelevent. It could be anything. [Presumably the only thing it can't be is zero - because that would result in an infinite number].

Absolutely ! Another way to think about it:



Multiply both sides by (the denominator):





Again, the denominator's value is lost.

So in your original problem, we just have to glance once at the seemingly difficult equation and find that it's actually just asking you to solve: