In this lesson, you will learn how to solve rational equations uing algebraic methods.

Recall that a rational expression is an expression involving a quotient of two polynomials. In this first section, we will look at solving rational equations that are in a proportional form a divided by b = c divided by d a b = c d .

If the rational equation is set up as a proportion, you can simply use the means-extremes principal and cross multiply to solve the equation

Example 1: Solve the equation: 2x - 3 divided by x -2 equals 3x divided x + 2 2x - 3 x - 2 = 3x x + 2 .

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Example 2: Solve the equation: 3y plus 6 divided by y^2 minus 4 = y plus 1 divided by y minus 2 3y + 6 y² - 4 = y + 1 y - 2 .

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