Chapter 10 - Systems of Equations and Inequalities - Section 10.5 Partial Fraction Decomposition - 10.5 Assess Your Understanding - Page 788: 5

The rational expression is proper.

A rational expression $\dfrac{A(x)}{B(x)}$ is said to be proper if the degree of polynomial in numerator is less than the degree of its denominator. Here, the degree of the numerator $A(x)= 1$ and the degree of the denominator ; $B(x)=2$. Since $1<2$, then the given rational expression is proper.