Question
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A student solves the following equation and determines that the solution is -2 . Is the student correct? Explain. \( \frac{3}{a+2}-\frac{6 a}{a^{2}-4}=\frac{1}{a-2} \)

Ask by Powers Blake. in the United States
Jan 23,2025

Real Tutor Solution

Tutor-Verified Answer

Answer

The student is incorrect because there are no real solutions to the equation, so -2 is not a valid solution.

Solution

Solve the equation \( \frac{3}{a+2}-\frac{6a}{a^{2}-4}=\frac{1}{a-2} \). Solve the equation by following steps: - step0: Solve for \(a\): \(\frac{3}{a+2}-\frac{6a}{a^{2}-4}=\frac{1}{a-2}\) - step1: Find the domain: \(\frac{3}{a+2}-\frac{6a}{a^{2}-4}=\frac{1}{a-2},a \in \left(-\infty,-2\right)\cup \left(-2,2\right)\cup \left(2,+\infty\right)\) - step2: Multiply both sides of the equation by LCD: \(\left(\frac{3}{a+2}-\frac{6a}{a^{2}-4}\right)\left(a-2\right)\left(a+2\right)=\frac{1}{a-2}\times \left(a-2\right)\left(a+2\right)\) - step3: Simplify the equation: \(-3a-6=a+2\) - step4: Move the expression to the left side: \(-3a-a=2+6\) - step5: Add and subtract: \(-4a=2+6\) - step6: Add and subtract: \(-4a=8\) - step7: Change the signs: \(4a=-8\) - step8: Divide both sides: \(\frac{4a}{4}=\frac{-8}{4}\) - step9: Divide the numbers: \(a=-2\) - step10: Check if the solution is in the defined range: \(a=-2,a \in \left(-\infty,-2\right)\cup \left(-2,2\right)\cup \left(2,+\infty\right)\) - step11: Find the intersection: \(a \in \varnothing \) The solution to the equation \( \frac{3}{a+2}-\frac{6a}{a^{2}-4}=\frac{1}{a-2} \) is that there are no real solutions for \( a \). Therefore, the student is incorrect in stating that the solution is -2.

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Bonus Knowledge

To check if the student’s solution of \( a = -2 \) is correct, we’ll first substitute \( -2 \) into the original equation. Notice that \( a^2 - 4 = (-2)^2 - 4 = 0 \), which makes the denominator of the second term undefined. Since we cannot have a denominator of zero, \( a = -2 \) is not a valid solution. The student is incorrect! Now, let’s find the correct solutions. First, we can simplify the equation. The equation can be rewritten as: \[ \frac{3}{a + 2} - \frac{6a}{(a - 2)(a + 2)} = \frac{1}{a - 2} \]. By finding a common denominator and integrating the expressions step by step, we can find the valid values for \( a \) that satisfy the equation without leading to undefined expressions.

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