Precalculus (6th Edition) Blitzer

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0-13446-914-3
ISBN 13: 978-0-13446-914-0

Chapter 2 - Section 2.6 - Rational Functions and Their Graphs - Exercise Set - Page 399: 35

Answer

There will not be any vertical asymptotes, but there will be a hole at $x=-7$

Work Step by Step

Write $r\left( x \right)$ in the form of $\frac{p\left( x \right)}{q\left( x \right)}$. $\begin{align} & r\left( x \right)=\frac{{{x}^{2}}+4x-21}{x+7} \\ & =\frac{p\left( x \right)}{q\left( x \right)} \end{align}$ So, $p\left( x \right)={{x}^{2}}+4x-21$ and $q\left( x \right)=x+7$. Here, the degree of the polynomial in the denominator is less than the numerator. Therefore, there will not be any vertical asymptotes. Now, $\begin{align} & r\left( x \right)=\frac{{{x}^{2}}+4x-21}{x+7} \\ & =\frac{\left( x+7 \right)\cdot \left( x-3 \right)}{\left( x+7 \right)} \\ & =x-3 \end{align}$ But, after rearranging, $x+7$ from the denominator will be eliminated. Here, when x approaches $-7$ , the polynomial approaches to $4$ , but at the point $x=-10$ the polynomial will be discontinuous. So, there will be a hole at $x=-7$ Thus, there are no vertical asymptotes, but there will be a hole at $x=-7$.
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