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Math Forum » Discussions » Math Topics » alt.math.undergrad.independent

Topic: simplifying rational expressions
Replies: 12   Last Post: Jan 28, 2013 12:57 AM

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justlooking for someone else

Posts: 71
Registered: 12/10/04
simplifying rational expressions
Posted: Jan 16, 2013 12:59 AM
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Hi,

Need a little help with this. We are simplifying the following, but
the solution is pretty lengthy and messy because of the enormous
number of factors. I was thinking that may be I am missing seeing a
pattern (some series or something). Is grunt work the only way to
solve this or is there a pattern that can simplify the whole process?

My daughter was trying to solve this, but ended up with the mess and
then I got the same mess, but I thought there may be an easy way to
simplify this that I may be missing.


((b-c)/((a-b)(a-c))) + ((c-a)/((b-c)(b-a))) + ((a-b)/((c-a)(c-b))) +
(2/(b-a)) - (2/(c-a))


of course, I took all the factors in the denominator and then started
multiplying the numerator with the remaining factors to end up with a
mess.

Your help is appreciated.

s

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