1 Rational Functions

Algebra II Topic: Rational Functions

By: Taylor, Derek, Stephen, Eliana and Kaylie

Definitions:
A rational function is a function written as a ratio and a quotient of two polynomials. F(x)
and G(x).
A rational function is a function in which one polynomial function is divided by another.
The form of this equation is F(x)=P(x)/Q(x)
A rational function is two polynomial functions divided by each other.
Ex:
s(x)
f(x) = -------
t(x)

s(x) and t(x) are both polynomial functions
Rational Functions: A function of the form f(x) = P(x) / Q(x), Where P(x) and q(x) are
polynomials and q(x) does not equal 0. The inverse variation function f(x) = a / x is a
rational function (Larson, 558).






Real World Examples and Professions:
Aerodynamics
2 Rational Functions
According to NASA Langley Research Center, rational functions are used to find
unsteady aerodynamic approximations.


Business Consultant
A consultant may be assigned the job of finding how much it will cost for cleaning an area or
property that may have been the site on which a chemical factory had once existed. Depending
on the amount of pollutants on the property, the expenses of the job can radically change. The
consultant may very well use a rational function to complete the task of estimating the amount of
money this job will take.
50,000
C(p) = ------------
100-p

C is the cost (in dollars) of removing p% of the pollutants from the property.
Say we wanted to find how much it would cost to remove 90% of pollutants:
50,000 50,000
C(90) = ------------ = C(90) = ------------- = C(90) = 5,000
100-90 10

This shows us that it will take $5,000 to complete 90% of the project. (Sweeney, Problem
Solving with Rational Functions)
3 Rational Functions

Calculating a Baseball players batting average
One can find a baseball players batting average by using rational functions. The equation is
F(x)=G(x)/H(x) where G(x)=the amount of hits he has and G(x)=the amount of pitches he has
faced. If one batter has 479 hits on 1398 pitches then F(x)=479/1398 and his batting average is
.342 or 34.2%

Calculating the cost to run a Business
Say you wanted to know how much it will costs to run a business. You could use the equation
C(x)=((fixed cost to run business)+cx)/x where c is the cost of what you are making and x is the
number of things you produced. So say it costs $1000 every month to run a hot dog business,
each hot dog costs 2 dollars to make, and you want x amount of hot dogs. The total cost for the
business could be modelled by the equation C(x)=(1000+2(x))/x (Functions In The Real World).

Drug Concentrations and Doctors:
Example 1:
The function describes the concentration of a drug in the bloodstream over time. In this case, the
medication was taken orally. It is measured in micrograms per milliliter and is measured in
minutes. The maximum concentration in the body is 13.76 micrograms which occurs at 18.2
minutes.
4 Rational Functions

The graph above shows that the concentration is 0 at time . Within the first 15 minutes, the
concentration rises sharply to the maximum at 18.2 minutes. After reaching the maximum, the
kidneys begin cleansing the blood and rapidly remove the drug. The table show the
concentrations at several times.
There is only one asymptote in this rational function which is at C=0. Oddly, this value actually
exists in the range of the function at C=0; however, the graph tends toward as values increase to
infinity. This characteristic gives the asymptotic behavior. Graphs and tables of values help
students see this.


Also, comparing the degree of the numerator and the denominator identifies the power of the
function is located in the denominator which means for larger and larger values, the values goes
to 0. The meaning of the asymptote is associated with the concentration of the drug in the
bloodstream approaches 0 over time (NCSS Distance Learning).

Example 2:
5 Rational Functions
This is an example of how nurses tell the concentration of a medical drug such as
anesthesia in the patients bloodstream with expected to time. The x-axis represents the t and the
y-axis represents the C(t) in the graph to the right.
C(t) = 4t / (t
2
+ 2)
C(t) = 4(5) / (5
2
+ 2)
C(t) = 20 / (25 + 2)
C(t) = 20 / 27
C(t) = .75

C = concentration of drug.
T = amount of time while the drug is being infused into the blood system.
Here is an equation that uses Rational Functions, in order to find the timing of a
concentration drug and the amount of time that the drug is being infused into the blood system.
This is the basic equation that registered nurses use for any patients to see the amount of time for
a patient will have to wake up or have the drug be infused into the blood system before they can
start the operation, or medical work the doctors will be conducting.
Such as when there are 5 minutes left (t) then the concentration of the drug will be at 0.74g. This
means that after 5 minutes of the drug being inserted into the patients blood that there will only
be 0.74 grams of the drug still in the blood system (Jagnandan, Parmanand).







List of Other Areas where Rational Functions are used:
acoustics and sound
6 Rational Functions
electronic circuitry
enzyme kinetics in biochemistry
fields and forces in physics
optics and photography to improve image resolution
spectroscopy in analytical chemistry
wave functions for atoms and molecules


Skills needed to learn rational functions:
To learn about rational functions, you must first know a few major mathematical concepts. First
of all, you must know algebra, how to use variables, and basic math (addition, subtraction
multiplication, and division). Also, you must understand linear and quadratic equations because
they both may be present in rational functions. You will also have to know vocabulary that is
involved in finding the product of the Rational Functions such as asmytops, X-value, Y-value,
etc. An understanding of exponents/roots is needed as well. You need to know how to graph
functions, both with and without a calculator.

Solving rational functions:
First, we need to find a rational function problem to solve. We should start with an easy one such
as:

We can now start plugging in numbers for x. As you notice, x is on the bottom of the rational
function, therefore, we will be dividing by the number we choose. With this said, we need to try
to avoid 0. We can now start plugging number into our table like so:

7 Rational Functions
x f(x)
-4 -0.25
-2 -0.5
-1 -1
-0.1 -10
-0.01 -100
0.01 100
0.1 10
1 1
2 0.5
4 0.25

As x gets larger, in either direction, so does the size of the graph only in this example. This does
not apply to all rational functions. Here is a sketch of this specific graph:

The graph above shows a hyperbola, which is a function consisting of two symmetrical parts
called branches. As you probably noticed, our graph does not have any intercepts. This is of
course because we avoided using 0 as a value for x. It is also important that neither of the lines
ever touch the y or x-axis. (Dawkins, Rational Functions)
Graphing Rational Functions
8 Rational Functions
When graphing a rational function, you must make sure that the denominator does not equal
zero.
Therefore, for example if you have the equation:
y

x


Then x may not be the value 12. This means that 12 is a singularity of that function.

A singularity of a function is any value of the variable that would make a denominator 0
(Spector).

Asymptotes

Briefly, an asymptote is a straight line that a graph comes closer and closer to but never
touches (Spector).This can be seen in the above example, where the graph never touches the y
or x-axis. Likewise, the image below demonstrates asymptotes visually:







9 Rational Functions










Works Cited
"4.8.1.2. Rational Functions." 4.8.1.2. Rational Functions. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/pmd/section8/pmd812.htm>.
Dawkins, Paul. "Pauls Online Notes : Algebra - Rational Functions." Pauls Online Notes :
Algebra - Rational Functions. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.
<http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/Alg/GraphRationalFcns.aspx>.
Definition of a Rational Function. Rational Function Definition. Web. 11 Apr. 2013.
<http://zonalandeducation.com/mmts/functionInstitute/rationalFunctions/definition/definition
.html>
"Functions in The Real World." Education World: Functions in the Real World. Web. 24
Apr. 2013. <http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/mathchat/mathchat010.shtml>.
"Graphing Rational Functions: Introduction." Graphing Rational Functions: Introduction. Wed.
19 Apr. 2013. <http://www.purplemath.com/modules/grphrtnl.htm>.
Jagnandan, Parmanand. Parmanand. "Rational Functions in the Real World." Sophia.
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SOPHIA Learning, LLC, 2014. Web. 07 Mar. 2014.
Khan, Salamon. "Asymptotes of Rational Functions | Graphing Rational Functions
|Khan Academy." Khan Academy. Khan Academy, 3013. Web. 11 Apr. 2013
Larson, Ron, Laurie Boswell, Timothy D. Kanold, and Lee Stiff. Algebra 2. Evanston,
IL:
McDougal Littell, 2007. Print.
NCSS Distance Learning. Applications of Rational Functions. PDF.
"Pauls Online Notes : Algebra - Rational Functions." Pauls Online Notes : Algebra - Rational
Functions. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.
<http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/Alg/GraphRationalFcns.aspx>.
"Problem Solving with Rational Functions." PBWorks, 29 Mar. 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2013.
<http://stevesweeney.pbworks.com/f/MCR3U+-+Rational+Functions+06+-+Applications+-
+W2011.pdf>
"RATIONAL FUNCTIONS." Rational Functions. Asymptotes. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.themathpage.com/aprecalc/rational-functions.htm>.
Spector, Lawrence. "Rational Functions." Rational Functions. Asymptotes. TheMathPage, 2014.
Web. 13 Mar. 2014. <http://www.themathpage.com/aprecalc/rational-functions.htm>.

Stapel, Elizabeth. "Solving Rational Equations: More Examples." Purplemath. Available from
http://www.purplemath.com/modules/solvrtnl3.htm. Accessed 16 April 2013
Tiffany, Sherwood H., and Mordechay Karpel. "Aeroservoelastic Modeling and Applications
Using Minimum-State Approximations of the Unsteady Aerodynamics." NASA Technical
Memorandum (1989): 1-11. NASA Langley Research Center. National Aeronautics and
Space Administration. Web.
<http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19890014937.pdf>.

Zobel, Edward A. "Rational Functions." Physics, Math. Thurs. 15 Apr. 2013
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