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C4 Maths partial fractions help

Hi, how would you know when to use partial fractions?

E.g. I was integrating and came across 1/(x)(2-x)
anyone know how and when to use partial fractions?

thanks
Hello, I've moved this to maths for you.

When you look at integrals, you need to think about what methods you could use eg:

Inverse chain rule? No it's not in the right form (because we have x^2).

etc and then you'll come to partial fractions and think, "aha that's the right method!"

When I was doing c4 integration, my teacher give us a list of the different types of integrals and what techniques you'd use. Maybe you'd find making one of those useful? :smile:
Reply 2
Basically if you have to factors that are multiplied on the denominator, it's probably best to use partial fractions.
Sometimes there will be a polynomial on the denominator which can be factorised into 2 linear factors. This allows you to integrate when there is a long expression on the denominator. Also though you can use partial fractions for integrating something like
1(x3)(x2+1) \displaystyle \frac{1}{(x-3)(x^2+1)} .

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