Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. Chapter 14 Rational Expressions

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Simplifying Complex Fractions

Martin-Gay, Developmental Mathematics, 2e 33 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. Complex Rational Fractions Complex rational expressions (complex fraction) are rational expressions whose numerator, denominator, or both contain one or more rational expressions. There are two methods that can be used when simplifying complex fractions.

Martin-Gay, Developmental Mathematics, 2e 44 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. Method 1: To Simplify a Complex Fraction Step 1: Add or subtract fractions in the numerator or denominator so that the numerator is a single fraction and the denominator is a single fraction. Step 2: Perform the indicated division by multiplying the numerator of the complex fraction by the reciprocal of the denominator of the complex fraction. Step 3: Write the rational expression in lowest terms. Simplifying Complex Fractions

Martin-Gay, Developmental Mathematics, 2e 55 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. Example Simplify the complex fraction.

Martin-Gay, Developmental Mathematics, 2e 66 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. Example Simplify the complex fraction.

Martin-Gay, Developmental Mathematics, 2e 77 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. Method 2: To Simplify a Complex Fraction Step 1: Find the LCD of all the fractions in the complex fraction. Step 2: Multiply both the numerator and the denominator by the LCD from Step 1. Step 3: Perform the indicated operations and write the result in lowest terms. Simplifying Complex Fractions

Martin-Gay, Developmental Mathematics, 2e 88 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. Example Simplify.