Introduction to Rational Expressions

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Simplify rational expressions.
Multiply rational expressions.
Divide rational expressions.
Add and subtract rational expressions.
Simplify complex rational expressions.

A pastry shop has fixed costs of [latex]\$280[/latex] per week and variable costs of [latex]\$9[/latex] per box of pastries. The shop’s costs per week in terms of [latex]x[/latex], the number of boxes made, is [latex]280+9x[/latex]. We can divide the costs per week by the number of boxes made to determine the cost per box of pastries.

[latex]\frac{280+9x}{x}[/latex]

Notice that the result is a polynomial expression divided by a second polynomial expression. In this section, we will explore quotients of polynomial expressions.

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College Algebra. Provided by: OpenStax Authored by: OpenStax College Algebra. Located at: https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:1/Preface. License: CC BY: Attribution.

Study Guides > College Algebra

Introduction to Rational Expressions

Learning Objectives

Licenses & Attributions

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