With the command Partial Fractions, you can write a rational expression as a sum of simpler fractions—essentially the reverse of the operation demonstrated in the previous section.
To write a rational expression as a sum of rational expressions
The Partial Fractions command expands a rational expression into a
sum of rational expressions having denominators that are multiples of powers
of linear and irreducible quadratic factors. In this case irreducible
means the roots are neither rational nor rational combinations of the
coefficients of the polynomials. This operation does not accept
floating-point numbers, so write the coefficients as integers or quotients
of integers. There is no automatic way to change a decimal to a fraction,
such as .58 to
, but here again you can take advantage of the fact that you
are working in a word processor. If more than one variable occurs in the
expression, specify your choice of variable in the dialog box that appears.