In this section, students develop a familiarity with equations involving square and cube roots. They begin the section by recognizing that positive numbers have two square roots and recognize the benefit of understanding to represent the positive square root of . The restriction leads to a need for caution, though, when students see that solving equations involving square roots can...

The goal of this section is for students to build their skills working with larger, more complex equations. The first two lessons focus on identities. Students learn what identities are and how to determine if an equation is an identity. During these lessons, students show that this is an identity:

This equation gives the foundation for the formula for the...

This section introduces students to rational functions by connecting features of the functions’ equations and graphs, such as vertical and horizontal asymptotes. The first lesson purposely echoes the first lesson of the “Polynomial Functions” unit by focusing on a geometric concept. This encourages comparing rational and polynomial functions during the lesson, before revealing at the end that polynomials are a...

The focus of this section is on solving rational equations. Students begin by writing and solving equations involving a rational expression that is equal to a rational number. As the lessons progress, students will solve increasingly challenging rational equations, with the last lesson focusing on understanding how extraneous solutions may arise.