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Juan tried to perform the following addition and reduce to lowest terms: (2)/(x-1)+(3)/(x+1)
This is his work:
{:[=(2)/(x-1)+(3)/(x+1)],[=(2+3)/(x-1+x+1)],[=(5)/(2x)]:}
What mistake did he make in combining the rational expressions?
(A) He forgot to factor the denominator.
(B) He failed to find a common denominator.
(C) He incorrectly applied the distributive property.
(D) He made a mistake in simplifying the numerators.

Juan tried to perform the following addition and reduce to lowest terms: 2x1+3x+1 \frac{2}{x-1}+\frac{3}{x+1} \newlineThis is his work:\newline=2x1+3x+1=2+3x1+x+1=52x \begin{array}{l} =\frac{2}{x-1}+\frac{3}{x+1} \\ =\frac{2+3}{x-1+x+1} \\ =\frac{5}{2 x} \end{array} \newlineWhat mistake did he make in combining the rational expressions?\newline(A) He forgot to factor the denominator.\newline(B) He failed to find a common denominator.\newline(C) He incorrectly applied the distributive property.\newline(D) He made a mistake in simplifying the numerators.

Full solution

Q. Juan tried to perform the following addition and reduce to lowest terms: 2x1+3x+1 \frac{2}{x-1}+\frac{3}{x+1} \newlineThis is his work:\newline=2x1+3x+1=2+3x1+x+1=52x \begin{array}{l} =\frac{2}{x-1}+\frac{3}{x+1} \\ =\frac{2+3}{x-1+x+1} \\ =\frac{5}{2 x} \end{array} \newlineWhat mistake did he make in combining the rational expressions?\newline(A) He forgot to factor the denominator.\newline(B) He failed to find a common denominator.\newline(C) He incorrectly applied the distributive property.\newline(D) He made a mistake in simplifying the numerators.
  1. Identify Common Denominator: Juan starts with the expression 2x1+3x+1\frac{2}{x-1} + \frac{3}{x+1}. He needs to find a common denominator to combine these fractions.
  2. Combine Fractions Incorrectly: Juan attempts to combine the fractions by adding the numerators and denominators separately, resulting in 2+3x1+x+1\frac{2+3}{x-1+x+1}. This is incorrect because he cannot simply add the denominators as if they were like terms. The correct method is to find a common denominator, which would be the product of the two distinct denominators, (x1)(x+1)(x-1)(x+1).

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