Lesson Plan: Simplifying Rational Functions Mathematics
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to simplify rational functions and how to find their domains.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- simplify rational functions by finding and eliminating common factors in the numerators and denominators,
- state the domain of a rational function by considering values of for which the denominator is equal to 0 (including a function that can be simplified),
- identify when two rational functions are equivalent,
- identify the common domain between two functions that reduce to the same simplified form,
- recognize when two rational functions are equivalent for values in their common domain.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- factoring polynomial equations up to degree 3,
- finding a factor of a polynomial using the factor theorem,
- identifying zeros of polynomials.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- rational expressions,
- operations on rational functions including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
