APPENDIX : PARTIAL FRACTIONS

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1 APPENDIX : PARTIAL FRACTIONS Appendix : Partial Fractions Given the expression x 2 and asked to find its integral, x + you can use work from Section. to give x 2 =ln( x 2) ln( x + )+c x + = ln k x 2 x+ ( c = ln k) If the same problem had been presented as 6 x 2 + 2x 8 this may have caused some difficulty. 6 However, since x 2 + 2x 8 x 2 x + problem. Writing you can 'solve' the 6 x 2 + 2x 8 x 2 x + 6 means that you have expressed in partial fractions. x 2 + 2x 8 Expressing a function of the form gx when g( x) is a polynomial in x in terms of its partial fraction is a very useful method which enables you to evaluate. So firstly you gx need to find out how to find partial fractions. The approach is illustrated in the following example. Example Writing x ( 3x ) ( x 3) = A ( 3x ) + B ( x 3) find the values of A and B. 3

2 Solution If the previous equation is true, then multiplying both sides by the denominator gives x = Ax 3 + B( 3x ) This must hold for any value of x. So, for example, if x = 3, then ( 3 )= A( 3 3)+ B( 9 ) 2 = B B = 2 Similarly, x = 3 gives 3 = A( 3 3)+ B( ) 2 3 = 3 A A = 2 So x 3x ( x 3) = 2 ( 3x ) + 2 ( x 3) You can check this by putting the R.H.S. over a common denominator: ( x 3) R.H.S.= 2 ( x 3)+ 2 3x 3x = 2 x x 2 3x = ( x 3) x 3x ( x 3) Also note that an alternative to substituting values in the identity x = Ax 3 + B( 3x ) is to compare coefficients. So for 'x' terms, [x] = A + 3B and for the constant term [ct] = 3A B These two equations can be solved for A and B. 32

3 Check that a = 2, B= 2 satisfies both equations. Activity (a) By writing ( x + ) ( x ) as A x + + B x show that = Ax + Bx+ and hence find the values of A and B. (b) By writing 2x + ( x ) ( x+) as A x + A and B and hence express fractions. B find the values of x + 2x + x ( x+) in partial (c) Express form x +2 2x + 3 ( x+2) ( x 3) A 2x B + C x 3. in partial fractions of the A quadratic expression in the denominator cannot always be expressed in terms of linear factors, for example x 2 + or 2x + 2x. Now could be written as x x x x ; this would suggest that when writing an expression where one of the factors is quadratic, there may be two unknowns to find. For example, 2x + x 3 x 2 +3 A x 3 + Bx x could be written as C x = A x 3 + Bx + C x and multiplying both sides by ( x 3) ( x 2 +3) gives 2x + = Ax ( 2 +3)+ ( Bx + C) ( x 3) or 2x + = x2 ( A + B)+ xc 3B +3( A C). 33

4 Activity 2 Find the values of A, B and C for the expression above. Activity 3 Express in terms of partial fractions 6x 2 3 ( x ) x 2 x 2 + x+ You should note the result that 2x =ln ( x 2 + a 2 )+c x 2 + a 2 as this will be very useful in integrating partial fractions. Activity Verify the result above by differentiating the R.H.S. and showing that it is equal to the integral. Example Find ( 3 x) x+ x 2 +3 Solution You must first find the partial fractions by writing ( 3 x) x+ = A x 2 +3 ( x+) + Bx + C x This gives 3 x = Ax ( 2 +3)+ ( Bx + C) ( x+) Substituting x = =A A= [ x 2 ] 0= A+ B B= [ ct] 3=3A+C C =0 3

5 Hence ( 3 x) = ( x+) x 2 +3 x+ x ( x 2 +3) =ln( x +) 2ln( x 2 + 3)+C Activity Find ( + 3x) x 3 x 2 + One further case arises when a quadratic expression in the denominator does not factorise. You can regard this case as optional. A further complication arises when there is a repeated factor. For example, ( x ) 2 What form will the partial fraction take? Here you can write ( x ) 2 = A ( x+2) + B ( x ) + C ( x ) 2 For multiplying throughout by ( ) ( x ) 2 gives and, for = Ax 2 + Bx+2 ( x )+Cx+2 x = = C.3 C = 3 x = 2 =A 3 2 A= 9 [ x 2 ] 0 = A+ B B= 9 So ( x ) 2 = 9 ( x+2) 9 ( x ) + 3 ( x ) 2 Example Integrate ( x ) 2 3

6 Solution You have already seen that So that = ( x ) 2 ( x ) 2 = 9 ( x+2) 9 ( x ) + 3 ( x ) 2 9 x+2 9 x + 3 ( x ) 2 = 9 ln( ) ln x 9 3. x +k = 9 ln x 3 x +k (since ln A ln B = ln A b ) The method can be further extended to factors of higher degree than 2. So, for example, suppose f( x)= x 2 ( x+2) 2 What form will the partial fraction take? In all the examples so far considered of the form f x gx when f and g are both polynomials in x, it has always been the case that the degree of f is less than the degree of g. So if g is a quadratic function, the methods so far can deal with the case where f is of the form f( x)= a+bx (a, b constants) But suppose f is also a quadratic function. What happens when both f and g are quadratic expressions? The method will be illustrated with an example. Example Express x 2 + x 2 x + 6 in terms of its partial fraction. 36

7 Hence find the value of x 2 + x 2 x + 6 Solution You can write x 2 + x 2 x + 6 = x 2 + x 3 ( x 2) = A + B ( x 3) + C x 2 Multiplying throughout by ( x 3) ( x 2) gives and Hence and x 2 + = Ax 3 ( x 2)+ Bx 2 +Cx 3 C = 9 x = 2 9 = C x=3 = B() B= [ x 2 ] = A A= x 2 + = + x 2 x + 6 x 3 9 x 2 x 2 + = x 2 + x + 6 [ ] + ln( x 3) = x 9 x 3 x 2 [ ] 9lnx 2 [ ] = ( )+( ln 2 ln) 9ln3 ln ( 2) = + 23ln 2 9ln3 37

8 Activity 6 Express x2 + x + x 2 in partial fractions and hence find x 2 + x + x 2 is greater than that of gx Returning to the general case of f x, consider now what gx happens if the degree of f x. For example, x 3 + x 2 x 2 What form will the partial fractions take for the above function? Activity 7 Find x 3 + x 2 x 2 Finally in this section it should also be noted that expressing in terms of partial fractions can be helpful in differentiation as well as integration. Activity 8 By putting y = x + x 2 ( x+) into partial fractions, obtain (a) dy (b) d 2 y 2 (c) dn y n 38

9 Exercise. Express in partial fractions (a) (c) (e) (g) x 2 x ( + x) 2x x 2 + 2x 3 2x 2 3 xx 2 +2 x 2 ( x +) (b) (d) (f) (h) 3x 3x + ( x 2) 3 x 2 2 ( ) x 2 + 2x x 2 9 3x x + 3 x Evaluate 3. Evaluate. Find. Find x x 2 ( x) x x + x 2 + 2x 2 + 2x + 3 ( ) x Appendix : Partial Fractions x 3 + 2x 2 0x 9 x 3 ( x + 3) 39

JUST THE MATHS UNIT NUMBER 1.9. ALGEBRA 9 (The theory of partial fractions) A.J.Hobson

$JUST THE MATHS UNIT NUMBER 1.9. ALGEBRA 9 (The theory of partial fractions) A.J.Hobson$ JUST THE MATHS UNIT NUMBER 1. ALGEBRA (The theory of partial fractions) by A.J.Hobson 1..1 Introduction 1..2 Standard types of partial fraction problem 1.. Exercises 1..4 Answers to exercises UNIT 1. -