Final answer:
The domain of the rational function y = (x + 1)/(x² - 4) is all real numbers except x = 2 and x = -2, which are excluded because they make the denominator zero.
Step-by-step explanation:
To identify the domain for the rational function y = (x + 1)/(x² - 4), we must first recognize that the domain consists of all the x-values for which the function is defined. The only restrictions to the domain occur where the denominator equals zero because division by zero is undefined. As such, we must solve the equation x² - 4 = 0 to find the values of x that are not in the domain. Factoring the denominator, we get (x + 2)(x - 2) = 0. The solutions to this equation are x = 2 and x = -2. Thus, these values are excluded from the domain, which means the domain of the function y = (x + 1)/(x² - 4) is all real numbers except x = 2 and x = -2.