Question

Jeremy subtracted the following rational expressions. His teacher told him that his answer was incorrect. Explain Jeremy's error in the simplification process and provide the correct result.

Answer 1

Since this is a subtraction problem, Jeremy needed to distribute the negative to the terms in the numerator. Jeremy only distributed it to the x2-term, and not to 15. Instead, he kept the 15 positive. When he combined like terms, he got a result of 5 for the constants. The correct result is x + 5.

Answer 2

Answer:

Sample Response: Since this is a subtraction problem, Jeremy needed to distribute the negative to the terms in the numerator. Jeremy only distributed it to the x2-term, and not to 15. Instead, he kept the 15 positive. When he combined like terms, he got a result of 5 for the constants. The correct result is x + 5.