Lesson 1

Complete the Lesson 1 Assignment you saved in your course folder at the beginning of this lesson. Show work to support your answers.

 

Save your responses in your course folder.

 

Project Connection

 

In Module 5 Project: Dice Game Competition, you will create and play a dice game. Begin by reading all parts of the Module 5 Project as an overview of what you will be doing to complete the project. Then complete Part 1. You will use an applet to determine equivalent rational expressions.

 

Going Beyond

 

Do you remember how to divide numbers by long division? The image shows the long division of 353 by 5. The quotient is 70 with a remainder of 3. Study the image in order to review the process.

 

Did you know that you can also apply long division to polynomials?

 

In this lesson you simplified expressions such as  by removing factors common to the numerator and the denominator. Long division is another method you can use to simplify rational expressions.

 

Compare the long division of rational numbers, such as the one shown in the image, to the long division of the polynomial shown here:

 

Then answer the following questions.

1. Where do you look for the simplified form of the original rational expression?
2. Notice that the remainder is zero. What does that mean? What would it mean if the remainder was not equal to zero?
3. Where do you look to find non-permissible values?
4. Return to some of the questions you completed in this lesson. Use the method of long division to see if your answers match. Are there rational expressions that are better simplified with the long-division method? Are there expressions that are difficult to simplify with this method?

Save your work in your course folder.