Juan tried to perform the following addition and reduce to lowest terms: x−12+x+13This is his work:=x−12+x+13=x−1+x+12+3=2x5What 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.
Q. Juan tried to perform the following addition and reduce to lowest terms: x−12+x+13This is his work:=x−12+x+13=x−1+x+12+3=2x5What 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.
Identify Common Denominator: Juan starts with the expression x−12+x+13. He needs to find a common denominator to combine these fractions.
Combine Fractions Incorrectly: Juan attempts to combine the fractions by adding the numerators and denominators separately, resulting in x−1+x+12+3. 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, (x−1)(x+1).
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