7.

Rational Expressions - Multiply & Divide

Objective: Multiply and divide rational expressions.

Multiplying and dividing rational expressions is very similar to the process we use
to multiply and divide fractions.

Example 1.

15 14
· First reduce common factors from numerator and denominator (15 and 7)
49 45

1 2
· Multiply numerators across and denominators across
7 3

2
Our Solution
21

The process is identical for division with the extra first step of multiplying by the
reciprocal. When multiplying with rational expressions we follow the same pro-
cess, first divide out common factors, then multiply straight across.

1
Example 2.

25x2 24y 4 Reduce coefficients by dividing out common factors (3 and 5)

·
9y 8 55x7 Reduce, subtracting exponents, negative exponents in denominator

5 8
· Multiply across
3y 11x5
4

40
Our Solution
33x5 y 4

Division is identical in process with the extra first step of multiplying by the
reciprocal.

Example 3.

a4b2 b4
÷ Multiply by the reciprocal
a 4

a4b2 4
· Subtract exponents on variables, negative exponents in denominator
a b4

a3 4
· Multiply across
1 b2

4a3
Our Solution
b2

Just as with reducing rational expressions, before we reduce a multiplication

problem, it must be factored first.

Example 4.

x2 − 9 x2 − 8x + 16
· Factor each numerator and denominator
x2 + x − 20 3x + 9

(x + 3)(x − 3) (x − 4)(x − 4)
· Divide out common factors (x + 3) and (x − 4)
(x − 4)(x + 5) 3(x + 3)

x−3 x−4
· Multiply across
x+5 3

2
 (x − 3)(x − 4)
Our Solution
3(x + 5)

Again we follow the same pattern with division with the extra first step of multi-
plying by the reciprocal.

Example 5.
x2 − x − 12 5x2 + 15x
÷ Multiply by the reciprocal
x2 − 2x − 8 x2 + x − 2

x2 − x − 12 x2 + x − 2
· Factor each numerator and denominator
x2 − 2x − 8 5x2 + 15x

(x − 4)(x + 3) (x + 2)(x − 1)
· Divide out common factors:
(x + 2)(x − 4) 5x(x + 3)
(x − 4) and (x + 3) and (x + 2)
1 x−1
· Multiply across
1 5x

x−1
Our Solution
5x
We can combine multiplying and dividing of fractions into one problem as shown
below. To solve we still need to factor, and we use the reciprocal of the divided
fraction.

Example 6.
a2 + 7a + 10 a+1 a−1
2
· 2 ÷ Factor each expression
a + 6a + 5 a + 4a + 4 a + 2

(a + 5)(a + 2) (a + 1) (a − 1)
· ÷ Reciprocal of last fraction
(a + 5)(a + 1) (a + 2)(a + 2) (a + 2)

(a + 5)(a + 2) (a + 1) (a + 2)
· · Divide out common factors
(a + 5)(a + 1) (a + 2)(a + 2) (a − 1)
(a + 2), (a + 2), (a + 1), (a + 5)
1
Our Solution
a−1

World View Note: Indian mathematician Aryabhata, in the 6th century, pub-
n(n + 1)(n + 2)
lished a work which included the rational expression for the sum of
the first n squares (1 + 2 + 3 + . + n )
6
1 2 2 2

Beginning and Intermediate Algebra by Tyler Wallace is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

3
 7.2 Practice - Multiply and Divide

Simplify each expression.

8x2 9 8x 4
1) ·2 2) 3x
÷7
9

9n 7 9m 7
3) · 5n 4) 5m2
·2
2n

5x2 10p 8
5)
6
·5 6) 5
÷ 10
4
7 n−2
7)
7 (m − 6)
·
5m(7m − 5) 8) 10(n + 3)
÷ (n + 3)(n − 2)
m−6 7(7m − 5)
6x(x + 4) (x − 3)(x − 6)
9)
7r r−6
÷ (r − 6)2 10) x−3
· 6x(x − 6)
7r(r + 10)
9 b−5
11)
25n + 25 4
· 30n + 30 12) b2 − b − 12
÷ b2 − b − 12
5
v−1 4
13)
x − 10 7
÷ 35x + 21 14) 4
· v2 − 11v + 10
35x + 21
1 8a + 80
15)
x2 − 6x − 7 x+5
· x−7 16) a−6
· 8
x+5
p−8 1
8k 1 18) ÷ p − 10
17) 24k2 − 40k
÷ 15k − 25 p2 − 12p + 32

x2 − 7x + 10 x + 10
19) (n − 8) · 10n − 80
6 20) x−2
· x2 − x − 20
2r 2r
21)
4m + 36
·
m−5 22) r+6
÷ 7r + 42
m+9 5m2

3x − 6 2n2 − 12n − 54
23) (x + 3) 24) n+7
÷ (2n + 6)
12x − 24

b+2 21v2 + 16v − 16 35v − 20

25) (5b − 3) 26) 3v + 4
÷ v −9
40b2 − 24b

n−7 12 − 6n x2 + 11x + 24 6x3 + 6x2

27) 6n − 12
· n2 − 13n + 42 28) 6x3 + 18x2
· x2 + 5x − 24
27a + 36 6a + 8 k −7 7k 2 − 28k
29) 9a + 63
÷ 2
30) k2 − k − 12
· 8k2 − 56k
x2 − 12x + 32 7x2 + 14x 9x3 + 54x2 x2 + 5x − 14
31) x2 − 6x − 16
· 7x2 + 21x 32) x2 + 5x − 14
· 10x2

18m3 − 36m2 n−7 9n + 54

33) (10m2 + 100m) · 34) n2 − 2n − 35
÷ 10n + 50
20m2 − 40m

7p2 + 25p + 12 3p − 8 7x2 − 66x + 80 7x2 + 39x − 70

35) 6p + 48
· 21p2 − 44p − 32 36) 49x2 + 7x − 72
÷ 2
49x + 7x − 72

10b2 30b + 20 35n2 − 12n − 32 7n2 + 16n − 15

37) 30b + 20
· 2b2 + 10b 38) ·
49n2 − 91n + 40 5n + 4

7r 2 − 53r − 24 49r + 21 12x + 24 15x + 21

39) 7r + 2
÷ 49r + 14 40) 10x2 + 34x + 28
· 5

4
 x2 − 1 x2 − 4 x2 + x − 2 a3 + b3 3a − 6b a2 − 4b2
41) 2x − 4
· x2 − x − 2 ÷ 3x − 6
42) a2 + 3ab + 2b2
· 3a2 − 3ab + 3b2 ÷ a + 2b

x2 + 3x + 9 x2 + 2x − 8 x2 − 4 x2 + 3x − 10 2x2 − x − 3 8x + 20
43) x2 + x − 12
· x3 − 27
÷ x2 − 6x + 9 44) x2 + 6x + 5
· 2x2 + x − 6 ÷ 6x + 15

Beginning and Intermediate Algebra by Tyler Wallace is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

5
7.2

Answers - Multipy and Divide

1) 4x2 17) 5 32)
9(x + 6)
10
14 p − 10
2) 18)
3 p−4 33) 9m2(m + 10)
63 3
3) 10n 19) 10
5 34)
63 9(n + 6)
4) 10m 20)
x + 10
x+4
p+3
3x2 35)
5) 2 21)
4(m − 5) 6(p + 8)
5m2
5p x−8
6) 2 22) 7 36) x+7

7) 5m 23)
x+3 5b
4 37) b+5
7
8) n−9
10 24)
r−6
n+7 38) n + 3
9) r + 10 b+2
25) 8b 39) r − 8
10) x + 4 v −9
2
26) 5 18
11) 40) 5
3 1
9
27) − n − 6
12) 3
b−5 41) 2
x+1
x − 10 28) x−3
13) 1
7
1 42) a + 2b
1 29) a+7
14) v − 10 1
30)
7 43) x+2
15) x + 1 8(k + 3)

a + 10 x−4 3(x − 2)
16) a−6
31) x+3
44) 4(x + 2)

Beginning and Intermediate Algebra by Tyler Wallace is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)