- #1
theintarnets
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Homework Statement
I'm supposed to decompose 1 / x(x2 + 1)2
Also, we haven't learned matrices yet so I can't use that technique to solve it.
Homework Equations
None.
The Attempt at a Solution
1 / x(x2 + 1)2 = A/x + (Bx + C) / (x2 + 1) + (Dx + E) / (x2 + 1)2
I multiplied everything by the original denominator to get this:
1 = x3(Bx + C) + x2(A + B + D) + x(C + E) + A
From that, I can tell that A = 1, and I think that the following should also be true, but I'm not 100% certain:
B + D = -1
C + E = 0
B + C = 0
So I set x = -1 which gives me
B - C + 2A + B + D - C - E = 1
And I know that B + D = -1, so I can write:
B - 2C + 2A - 1 - E = 1, and since 2A is just 2, I can rewrite everything as
B - 2C - E = 0
So I take that and add it to my other equation C + E = 0 to cancel out E, and I get
B - C = 0, and then add that to my other equation B + C = 0 and then I get 2B = 0, or just
B = 0, which means D = -1 and C = 0 and E = 0
My final answer would then be
1 / x + x / (x2 + 1) - x / (x2 + 1)2
But that's wrong, because in the answer, only 1 / x is positive. What did I do wrong?