Decomposition of a rational expression

Jimmy25
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Homework Statement



Decompose the rational expression into a sum of partial fractions:

(x+1)/(3(x-2)2)

I am familiar with the method of decomposing fractions into a sum of partials fractions (solving for A, B, C, etc.). What is confusing me is the coefficient 3 in the denominator. Do I have to include the 3 in the denominator of all the partial fractions or just one? why?
 
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Jimmy25 said:

Homework Statement



Decompose the rational expression into a sum of partial fractions:

(x+1)/(3(x-2)2)

I am familiar with the method of decomposing fractions into a sum of partials fractions (solving for A, B, C, etc.). What is confusing me is the coefficient 3 in the denominator. Do I have to include the 3 in the denominator of all the partial fractions or just one? why?


\frac{x+1}{3(x-2)^2}=\frac{1}{3} \left( \frac{A}{x-2} + \frac{B}{(x-2)^2} \right) = \frac{A}{3(x-2)} + \frac{B}{3(x-2)^2}
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
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