Rational Expressions: Factor and Simplify

Objectives:

• Students will review the basics of simplifying rational expressions.

• Students will learn how to factor and simplify rational expressions with binomials.

• Students will learn how to factor and simplify rational expressions with trinomials.

• Students will practice all of these skills in their independent work.

Suggested Grades:

Seventh Grade - Eighth Grade - Ninth Grade - Tenth Grade - including special education students

Lesson Procedure:

Print the classroom lesson plan and worksheet questions (see below).

Lesson Excerpt:

Introduction and Review

- "Today, we are going to continue working on simplifying and factoring rational expressions. Let's just take a minute to review what we have learned so far."
- "First , who can tell me what a rational expression is?"
- Student answer- In fraction form, a numerator and a denominator that are both polynomials. The denominator can never be 0.
- "Good, and we can simplify them whether we are working with binomials, monomials or trinomials. Up until this point, we have been factoring and then simplifying binomials and trinomials. Let's look at a couple of examples so that we can review what have done so far."

Continued...