Definitions
Rational function of degree 2 :In the case of one variable, , a rational function is a function of the form
where and, are polynomial functions in and is not the zero polynomial. The domain of is the set of all points for which the denominator is not zero, where one assumes that the fraction is written in its lower degree terms, that is, and have no common factor of positive degree.
An irrational function is a function that is not rational. That is: it cannot be expressed as a ratio of two polynomials.
If is not variable, but rather an indeterminate, one talks about rational expressions instead of rational functions. The distinction between the two notions is important only in abstract algebra.
A rational equation is an equation in which two rational expressions are set equal to each other. These expressions obey the same rules as fractions. The equations can be solved by cross-multiplying. Division by zero is undefined, so that a solution causing formal division by zero is rejected.
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