Question

when soling a rational equation should you attempt to clear the fractions or factor everything first. why did you choose that step to be first, show an example using your choice

Answer 1

hmm, I think there maybe more than one good answer

example:

(2/3)x+(1/2)x = 3 the first thing I would do is multiply everything by 6 to clear the fractions..

but if I had (x^3 + 2x^2 + x + 4)/(x^3+3x+2x+6) = 4 I would factor first to get ((x^2+4)(x+2))/(x^2+2)(x+3)) then "cancel" the (x^2+ 2)