Elementary and Intermediate Algebra: Concepts & Applications (6th Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0-32184-874-8
ISBN 13: 978-0-32184-874-1

Chapter 11 - Quadratic Functions and Equations - 11.6 Quadratic Functions and Their Graphs - 11.6 Exercise Set - Page 741: 61

Answer

$\frac{-{{x}^{2}}+4x+1}{\left( x-1 \right)\left( x+3 \right)}$.

Work Step by Step

$\frac{1}{x-1}-\frac{x-2}{x+3}$, LCD (Least common denominator) of the denominator is $\text{LCD}=\left( x-1 \right)\left( x+3 \right)$ $\begin{align} & \frac{1}{x-1}-\frac{x-2}{x+3}=\frac{1}{x-1}\cdot \frac{x+3}{x+3}-\frac{x-2}{x+3}\cdot \frac{x-1}{x-1} \\ & =\frac{x+3}{\left( x-1 \right)\left( x+3 \right)}-\frac{\left( x-2 \right)\left( x-1 \right)}{\left( x+3 \right)\left( x-1 \right)} \\ & =\frac{\left( x+3 \right)-\left( x-1 \right)\left( x-2 \right)}{\left( x-1 \right)\left( x+3 \right)} \end{align}$ Apply the distributive property and simplify the expression, $\begin{align} & \frac{1}{x-1}-\frac{x-2}{x+3}=\frac{\left( x+3 \right)-\left( x\cdot x+x\cdot \left( -2 \right)-1\cdot \left( x \right)-1\cdot \left( -2 \right) \right)}{\left( x-1 \right)\left( x+3 \right)} \\ & =\frac{\left( x+3 \right)-\left( {{x}^{2}}-2x-x+2 \right)}{\left( x-1 \right)\left( x+3 \right)} \\ & =\frac{\left( x+3 \right)-\left( {{x}^{2}}-3x+2 \right)}{\left( x-1 \right)\left( x+3 \right)} \end{align}$ Apply the rule of subtraction of polynomials, $\begin{align} & \frac{1}{x-1}-\frac{x-2}{x+3}=\frac{x+3-{{x}^{2}}+3x-2}{\left( x-1 \right)\left( x+3 \right)} \\ & =\frac{-{{x}^{2}}+4x+1}{\left( x-1 \right)\left( x+3 \right)} \end{align}$ Therefore, the simplified form of the expression is $\frac{-{{x}^{2}}+4x+1}{\left( x-1 \right)\left( x+3 \right)}$.
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