Micah was asked to add the following expressions:
[tex]\frac{3x^2-x-9}{x^2+3x+2} + \frac{-2x^2+2x+5}{x^2+3x+2}[/tex]
First, he combined like terms in the numerator and kept the common denominator
First step is correct. He added the like terms in the numerator, because the denominators are same.
[tex]3x^2 -x -9 -2x^2+2x+5 becomes x^2 +x -4[/tex]
So he got , [tex]\frac{x^2+x-4}{x^2+3x+2}[/tex]
In the next step, he cannot cancel out x^2 from the top and bottom . Because x-4 and 3x+2 are added with x^2
If we have x^2 is multiplied with other terms at the top and bottom , then we can cancel out x^2.
So Micah added the expression incorrectly. Final answer is not correct.
