Chapter 7 Section 3

Objectives 1 Copyright © 2012, 2008, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. Least Common Denominators Find the least common denominator for a group of fractions. Write equivalent rational expressions

Copyright © 2012, 2008, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. Objective 1 Find the least common denominator for a group of fractions. Slide 7.3-3

Copyright © 2012, 2008, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. Find the least common denominator for a group of fractions. Adding or subtracting rational expressions often requires a least common denominator (LCD), the simplest expression that is divisible by all of the denominators in all of the expressions. For example, the least common denominator for the fractions and is 36, because 36 is the smallest positive number divisible by both 9 and 12. We can often find least common denominators by inspection. For example, the LCD for and is 6m. In other cases, we find the LCD by a procedure similar to that used in Section 6.1 for finding the greatest common factor. Slide 7.3-4

Copyright © 2012, 2008, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. Finding the Least Common Denominator (LCD) Step 1: Factor each denominator into prime factors. Step 2: List each different denominator factor the greatest number of times it appears in any of the denominators. Step 3: Multiply the denominator factors from Step 2 to get the LCD. When each denominator is factored into prime factors, every prime factor must be a factor of the least common denominator. Slide Find the least common denominator for a group of fractions. (cont’d)

Copyright © 2012, 2008, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. Find the LCD for each pair of fractions. Solution: Slide EXAMPLE 1 Finding the LCD

Copyright © 2012, 2008, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. Find the LCD for Solution: When finding the LCD, use each factor the greatest number of times it appears in any single denominator, not the total number of times it appears. Slide EXAMPLE 2 Finding the LCD

Copyright © 2012, 2008, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. Solution: Find the LCD for the fractions in each list. Either x − 1 or 1 − x, since they are opposite expressions. Slide EXAMPLE 3 Finding LCDs

Copyright © 2012, 2008, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. Objective 2 Write equivalent rational expressions. Slide 7.3-9

Copyright © 2012, 2008, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. Write equivalent rational expressions. Writing A Rational Expression with a Specified Denominator Step 1: Factor both denominators. Slide Step 2: Decide what factor (s) the denominator must be multiplied by in order to equal the specified denominator. Step 3: Multiply the rational expression by the factor divided by itself. (That is, multiply by 1.)

Copyright © 2012, 2008, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. Rewrite each rational expression with the indicated denominator. Solution: Slide EXAMPLE 4 Writing Equivalent Rational Expressions

Copyright © 2012, 2008, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. Rewrite each rational expression with the indicated denominator. Solution: Slide EXAMPLE 5 Writing Equivalent Rational Expressions

Copyright © 2012, 2008, 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. HL # 7.3 Book Beginning Algebra Page 439 Exercises 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44. Page 440 Exercises 55, 56, 57, 58, 64, 65, 67.