The other tutor took your equation to be
because you didn't put parentheses around denominators to show
where they start and where they end. When you write algebra
fractions all on one line, using a foward slash "/" for a fraction
bar, you must put parentheses around both entire numerators and
entire denominators any time there is more than just one letter
or just one number in the numerator or denominator. Otherwise
there is no way to know where numerators and denominators start
and end. And when you don't put the parentheses in, it is
understood that the numerator or denominator consists of just
the one number or the one letter which is closest to the forward
slash "/". That's the way the other tutor interpreted your
equation.
I believe you intended for your equation to be this:
which you should have written all on one line as
3/(x-7)+4/(x+2)=1
That way we can tell that the -7 and +2 are parts of the
denominators and not separate terms. It was not necessary
to place parentheses around the numerators because they
just consist of one number each, 3 and 4, but it was necessary
to put parentheses around the denominators.
Assuming you meant this:
,
write the 1 as so everything will be a fraction:
The LCD is (x-7)(x+2) so we multiply through by
Then we cancel away the denominators:
We end up with no fractions at all
Remove the parentheses:
Collect like terms:
Get 0 on the left:
Swap sides:
Compare to
And see that a=1, b=-12 and c=8.
Then use
Factor 4 out of the top:
Divide top and bottom by 2
or if you prefer:
The two exact solutions are
and
They are approximately 0.7 and 11.3.
Edwin