Lesson Plan: Binomial Theorem: Negative and Fractional Exponents Mathematics
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to use the binomial expansion to expand binomials with negative and fractional exponents.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- expand binomial expressions of the form , where is negative or a fraction,
- expand binomial expressions of the form , where is negative or a fraction and and are constants,
- find the range of values for which a binomial expansion is valid,
- approximate values using a binomial expansion and find the percentage error of the approximation when compared to the actual value.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- Pascal’s triangle,
- factorials,
- combinations,
- the binomial expansion for positive integer powers.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- using partial fractions to find a binomial expansion.