Answer:
A pastry shop has fixed costs of
$
280
per week and variable costs of
$
9
per box of pastries. The shop’s costs per week in terms of
x
,
the number of boxes made, is
280
+
9
x
.
We can divide the costs per week by the number of boxes made to determine the cost per box of pastries.
280
+
9
x
x
Notice that the result is a polynomial expression divided by a second polynomial expression. In this section, we will explore quotients of polynomial expressions.
Simplifying Rational Expressions
The quotient of two polynomial expressions is called a rational expression. We can apply the properties of fractions to rational expressions, such as simplifying the expressions by canceling common factors from the numerator and the denominator. To do this, we first need to factor both the numerator and denominator. Let’s start with the rational expression shown.
x
2
+
8
x
+
16
x
2
+
11
x
+
28
We can factor the numerator and denominator to rewrite the expression.
(
x
+
4
)
2
(
x
+
4
)
(
x
+
7
)
Then we can simplify that expression by canceling the common factor
(
x
+
4
)
.
x
+
4
x
+
7
