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Study Guides > College Algebra

Introduction to Rational Expressions

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:
  • Simplify rational expressions.
  • Multiply rational expressions.
  • Divide rational expressions.
  • Add and subtract rational expressions.
  • Simplify complex rational expressions.
A pastry shop has fixed costs of $280\$280 per week and variable costs of $9\$9 per box of pastries. The shop’s costs per week in terms of xx, the number of boxes made, is 280+9x280+9x. We can divide the costs per week by the number of boxes made to determine the cost per box of pastries.

280+9xx\frac{280+9x}{x}

Notice that the result is a polynomial expression divided by a second polynomial expression. In this section, we will explore quotients of polynomial expressions.

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