IB skill practice

Decompose rational expressions into partial fractions

Set up and interpret partial fraction decompositions for rational expressions.

Paper 1, Paper 2 5 marks Difficulty 4

Decompose rational expressions into partial fractions - partial fraction coefficient item

Case A7. Use the pole diagram and calculate the requested partial-fraction coefficient or check value.

Worked practice: result and interpretation

Calculate the requested result first, then choose the interpretation that follows from it.