August 21 - Solving Inequalities

We reviewed a couple problems from the homework last night. Problem #151 is tricky because there are extraneous solutions - it is necessary to check your answers to determine which are the "true" solutions. I pointed out that #134 should not have been assigned b/c we did not cover solving equations with radicals in them in class on Thursday.

In class, we covered solving inequalities. The types of inequalities you are responsible for are simple linear or compound linear, absolute value, and rational. When an inequality is rational (or polynomial), the strategy for solving will be to set one side of the inequality equal to zero and then to mark the zeros of all factors (in the numerator and the denominator) on a number line. Then test intervals to determine where the expression is positive and negative.