Section 1, Basic Algebra 1, Basic Algebra This section contains review material on: ‘© Real numbers, intervals and absolute value ‘© Polynomials ‘© Radicals and rational expressions 1¢ Fractional expressi Real Numbers and Its Famous Subsets. In Calculus, we deal with the set of real numbers and its subsets. One important subset is the set of integers -2,-1,0,1,2, ‘The numbers 0, 1,2,8,4,... are called non-negative integers; the set of natural numbers consists of the mumbers 1,2,3,4,... The quotient £ of two integers p and q (where q # 0) is called a rational ber. For example, 4, 54,047 = A&,—32 are rational numbers. (Looking at the last two examples, we see that integers belong to the set of rational numbers.) It is important to remember that division by zero is not allowed. Expressions such that For 2 are not defined. However, zero divided by a non-zero number is zero; for exampl Gor The numbers that cannot be represented as quotients of rational numbers are called irrational bors. Numbers such as V3, x, V5 and logo? ate irrational. The set of real numbers consists of rational and irrational numbers. It is usually denoted by BR. We can use decimal notation to express real numbers. Rational numbers have a repeating decimal representation; for example, 0.50000 03, 8 = o.205451545 = 0.2957, ete. Non-repeating decimal 5..., V2 = 1.414213562..., ete. expressions represent irrational numbers: = 3.141502653 Real numbers are ordered. a b moans that “a is greater than 6.” a 6 means that “a is greater than 6 or a is equal to b.” For example, V2 < 1.42, 2 > 0.6, 4 <4, 7 > 3.1415, ete, Number Line and Intervals. Real numbers can be represented visually as points on a number line, see the figure below We choose an arbitrar point on the line to be the origin (denoted by O, it represents the number zero), and indicate the direction in which the numbers increase by an arrow. For example, a 0} n. For example, (2,6) = {x €B)a<2 0 ifa) (yay (©) G+)? (4) (2? — 12)(2? + 12) (©) (2+. Solution (a) Using the FOIL method, we get (© = A)(229 +2) = (w)(22) + (2)(e) + (A229) + (Alla) = Bet 809 4 2? — de.