Simplifying Rational Expressions Exercises

Answer

We factor out the common factor of x and cancel to get the simplified form:

The simplified expression is not equivalent to the original, since the simplified expression can be evaluated at x = 0 but the original expression can't be evaluated at x = 0. Nice try, expression, but you need to wake up early in the morning to pull one over on us. We do like to sleep in until at least 10:30 on Sundays, though.

Answer

Factor out (x + 2) from the numerator and denominator to find the simplified form:

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The simplified expression and original expression are equivalent. Neither can be evaluated at x = -2, and the two expressions agree on all other values of x. They have differing political views, but they try not to talk about it at the dinner table.

Answer

Factor as

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The original expression can't be evaluated at , but the simplified expression can be evaluated at . This means the two expressions are not equivalent. Bummer. We had such high hopes for these two.

Answer

Pull out the common factor xy from the numerator and denominator to get x + y.

This expression can be evaluated for x = 0 and y = 0. The original expression can't be evaluated when x or y is 0, so the two expressions aren't equivalent.

Answer

The expression factors as , which simplifies to x + 1. While x + 1 can be evaluated for any value of x, the original expression can't be evaluated at x = 0 or , so the two expressions aren't equivalent.