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Printjmc
algebra intermediate
Problem
The function can be simplified into the function , defined everywhere except at . What is the sum of the values of , , , and ?
Solution
The fact that the function can be simplified to a quadratic means we can probably divide out of the numerator after factoring the numerator into and the quadratic . Using long division or synthetic division, we find that the numerator breaks down into and .
Now, we have After we divide out the , we're left with , so , , and .
The domain of the quadratic function is all real numbers, but our original function was undefined when the denominator equaled 0. After dividing out the we still have to take into account that the function is undefined at . So, the function is not defined at , giving us our value for . Therefore, .
Now, we have After we divide out the , we're left with , so , , and .
The domain of the quadratic function is all real numbers, but our original function was undefined when the denominator equaled 0. After dividing out the we still have to take into account that the function is undefined at . So, the function is not defined at , giving us our value for . Therefore, .
Final answer
14