Rational Expressions and Least Common Multiples

Objectives:

• Students will review the basics of finding multiples.

• Students will learn to find the LCM of numbers.

• Students will learn how to find the LCM of monomials.

• Students will learn how to find the LCM of trinomials.

• Students will learn how to find the LCM of rational expressions.

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:

- "Today's lesson is about rational expressions and least common multiples. We are going to start by reviewing least common multiples, and then we'll work on rational expressions and least common multiples."
- "First, a multiple is when a number is multiplied by 1, 2, 3 etc. When that happens, we say that those products are the multiples of the number. You could think of multiples as the opposite of factors. Factors are the numbers that multiply together to get the number. When we are working with multiples, we are starting with the number and getting larger from there. Let's look at an example."
- On Board: What are the multiples of 4?
- "We can start by answering this question by multiplying 4 times 1, 2, 3 etc. Here is what that looks like."
- On Board: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 ….

Continued...