70.2k views
4 votes
12. Consider the general rational equation a/b=c/d

(a) What equation results if you multiply both sides of this equation by bd/1?
(b) What does the expression bd represent in the equation above?

12. Consider the general rational equation a/b=c/d (a) What equation results if you-example-1
User Refaat
by
6.6k points

1 Answer

5 votes

Part (a)

Answer: ad = bc

-------------------------

Step-by-step explanation:

In the equation a/b = c/d, we have b and d in the denominator.

If we multiply both sides by bd, then the denominators will cancel. The expression bd is the same as bd/1.

As a similar example, consider the equation

a/b = 12

if we multiply both sides by b, then we clear out the denominator to end up with a = 12b

As another example, let's consider

a/b = c

Multiplying both sides by b leads to

a = bc

The same idea applies with the denominator d as well.

When going from a/b = c/d to ad = bc, your textbook may refer to this process as "cross multiplication".

=================================================

Part (b)

Answer: bd is the product of the denominators

-------------------------

Step-by-step explanation:

Often in math, writing two variables next to each other represents multiplication.

bd is the same as b*d which means "b times d". The term "product" is the result of multiplying two or more values.

b and d are both in the denominator of each fraction, so bd represents the product of the denominators.

User Hasib Samad
by
6.2k points
Welcome to QAmmunity.org, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of our community.