Lesson Plan: Partial Fractions: Nonrepeated Linear Factors Mathematics
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to decompose rational expressions into partial fractions when the denominator has nonrepeated linear factors.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- apply partial fractions by substitution when the denominator contains two or three nonrepeated linear factors,
- apply partial fractions by equating coefficients when the denominator contains two or three nonrepeated linear factors,
- apply partial fractions when the denominator is not already factored (but can be factored into two or three nonrepeated linear factors).
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- adding or subtracting rational functions,
- factoring polynomial expressions,
- solving a system of linear equations.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- partial fractions when the denominator contains repeated factors,
- partial fractions when the denominator contains irreducible polynomials,
- partial fractions when the denominator contains more than three linear factors,
- simplifying improper rational expressions.