Sunday, May 21, 2017

College Algebra, Chapter 1, 1.1, Section 1.1, Problem 50

The equation $\displaystyle \frac{1}{x} - \frac{2}{2x+1} = \frac{1}{2x^2 + x} $ is either linear or equivalent to a linear equation. Solve the equation

$
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
\frac{1}{x} - \frac{2}{2x+1} &= \frac{1}{2x^2 + x} && \text{Get the LCD}\\
\\
\frac{\cancel{2}x+1 - \cancel{2}x}{x(2x+1)} &= \frac{1}{2x^2 + x} && \text{Combine like terms}\\
\\
\frac{1}{2x^2+x} &= \frac{1}{2x^2+x}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
$


It shows that the equation on the left side is equal to the equation on the right side and that every value of $x$ is a solution. So the two equations will have the same graph.

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