Partial fraction decomposition

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In algebra, the partial fraction decomposition or partial fraction expansion of a rational fraction (that is a fraction such that the numerator and the denominator are both
polynomials) is the operation that consists in expressing the fraction as a sum of a polynomial (possibly zero) and one or several fractions with a simpler denominator.
The importance of the partial fraction decomposition lies in the fact that it provides an algorithm for computing the antiderivative of a rational function.
In symbols, one can use partial fraction expansion to change a rational fraction in the form
where and g are polynomials, into an expression of the form
where g
j
(x) are polynomials that are factors of g(x), and are in general of lower degree. Thus, the partial fraction decomposition may be seen as the inverse procedure of the
more elementary operation of addition of rational fractions, which produces a single rational fraction with a numerator and denominator usually of high degree. The full
decomposition pushes the reduction as far as it will go: in other words, the factorization of g is used as much as possible. Thus, the outcome of a full partial fraction expansion
expresses that fraction as a sum of fractions, where:
the denominator of each term is a power of an irreducible (not factorable) polynomial and
the numerator is a polynomial of smaller degree than that irreducible polynomial. To decrease the degree of the numerator directly, the Euclidean division can be used,
but in fact if already has lower degree than g this isn't helpful.
Contents
1 Basic principles
2 Application to symbolic integration
3 Procedure
3.1 Illustration
3.2 Residue method
4 Over the reals
4.1 General result
5 Examples
5.1 Example 1
5.2 Example 2
5.3 Example 3
5.4 Example 4 (residue method)
5.5 Example 5 (limit method)
6 The role of the Taylor polynomial
7 Fractions of integers
8 Notes
9 References
10 External links
Basic principles
The basic principles involved are quite simple; it is the algorithmic aspects that require attention in particular cases. On the other hand, the existence of a decomposition of a
certain kind is an assumption in practical cases, and the principles should explain which assumptions are justied.
Assume a rational function in one indeterminate x has a denominator that factors as
over a eld K (we can take this to be real numbers, or complex numbers). If P and Q have no common factor, then R may be written as
for some polynomials A(x) and B(x) over K. The existence of such a decomposition is a consequence of the fact that the polynomial ring over K is a principal ideal domain, so
that
for some polynomials C(x) and D(x) (see Bzout's identity).
Using this idea inductively we can write R(x) as a sum with denominators powers of irreducible polynomials. To take this further, if required, write:
as a sum with denominators powers of F and numerators of degree less than F, plus a possible extra polynomial. This can be done by the Euclidean algorithm, polynomial
case. The result is the following theorem:
Let and g be nonzero polynomials over a eld K. Write g as a product of powers of distinct irreducible polynomials :
There are (unique) polynomials b and a
ij
with deg a
ij
< deg p
i
such that
If deg < deg g, then b = 0.
Therefore, when the eld K is the complex numbers, we can assume that each p
i
has degree 1 (by the fundamental theorem of algebra) the numerators will be constant. When
K is the real numbers, some of the p
i
might be quadratic, so in the partial fraction decomposition a quotient of a linear polynomial by a power of a quadratic might occur.
In the preceding theorem, one may replace "distinct irreducible polynomials" by "pairwise coprime polynomials that are coprime with their derivative". For example, the p
i
may be the factors of the square-free factorization of g. When K is the eld of the rational numbers, as it is typically the case in computer algebra, this allows to replace
factorization by greatest common divisor to compute the partial fraction decomposition.
Application to symbolic integration
For the purpose of symbolic integration, the preceding result may be rened into
Let and g be nonzero polynomials over a eld K. Write g as a product of powers of pairwise coprime polynomials which have no multiple root in an
algebraically closed eld:
There are (unique) polynomials b and c
ij
with deg c
ij
< deg p
i
such that
where denotes the derivative of
This reduces the computation of the antiderivative of a rational function to the integration of the last sum, with is called the logarithmic part, because its antiderivative is a
linear combination of logarithms. In fact, we have
There are various methods to compute above decomposition. The one that is the simplest to describe is probably the so-called Hermite's method. As the degree of c
ij
is
bounded by the degree of p
i
, and the degree of b is the difference of the degrees of f and g (if this difference is non negative; otherwise, b=0), one may write these unknowns
polynomials as polynomials with unknown coefcients. Reducing the two members of above formula to the same denominator and writing that the coefcients of each power
of x are the same in the two numerators, one gets a system of linear equations which can be solved to obtain the desired values for the unknowns coefcients.
Procedure
Given two polynomials and , where the !
i
are distinct constants and deg P < n, partial fractions are generally obtained
by supposing that
and solving for the c
i
constants, by substitution, by equating the coefcients of terms involving the powers of x, or otherwise. (This is a variant of the method of undetermined
coefcients.)
A more direct computation, which is strongly related with Lagrange interpolation consists in writing
where is the derivative of the polynomial .
This approach does not account for several other cases, but can be modied accordingly:
If deg P deg Q, then it is necessary to perform the Euclidean division of P by Q, using polynomial long division, giving P(x) = E(x) Q(x) + R(x) with deg R < n.
Dividing by Q(x) this gives
and then seek partial fractions for the remainder fraction (which by denition satises deg R < deg Q).
If Q(x) contains factors which are irreducible over the given eld, then the numerator N(x) of each partial fraction with such a factor F(x) in the denominator must be
sought as a polynomial with deg N < deg F, rather than as a constant. For example, take the following decomposition over R:
Suppose Q(x) = (x ! !)
r
S(x) and S(!) " 0. Then Q(x) has a zero ! of multiplicity r, and in the partial fraction decomposition, r of the partial fractions will involve the
powers of (x ! !). For illustration, take S(x) = 1 to get the following decomposition:
Illustration
In an example application of this procedure, (3x + 5)/(1 ! 2x)
2
can be decomposed in the form
Clearing denominators shows that 3x + 5 = A + B(1 ! 2x). Expanding and equating the coefcients of powers of x gives
5 = A + B and 3x = !2Bx
Solving for A and B yields A = 13/2 and B = !3/2. Hence,
Residue method
Over the complex numbers, suppose (x) is a rational proper fraction, and can be decomposed into
Let
then according to the uniqueness of Laurent series, a
ij
is the coefcient of the term (x ! x
i
)
!1
in the Laurent expansion of g
ij
(x) about the point x
i
, i.e., its residue
This is given directly by the formula
or in the special case when x
i
is a simple root,
when
Note that P(x) and Q(x) may or may not be polynomials.
Over the reals
Partial fractions are used in real-variable integral calculus to nd real-valued antiderivatives of rational functions. Partial fraction decomposition of real rational functions is
also used to nd their Inverse Laplace transforms. For applications of partial fraction decomposition over the reals, see
Application to symbolic integration, above
Partial fractions in Laplace transforms
General result
Let (x) be any rational function over the real numbers. In other words, suppose there exist real polynomials functions p(x) and q(x)" 0, such that
By dividing both the numerator and the denominator by the leading coefcient of q(x), we may assume without loss of generality that q(x) is monic. By the fundamental
theorem of algebra, we can write
where a
1
,..., a
m
, b
1
,..., b
n
, c
1
,..., c
n
are real numbers with b
i
2
! 4c
i
< 0, and j
1
,..., j
m
, k
1
,..., k
n
are positive integers. The terms (x ! a
i
) are the linear factors of q(x) which
correspond to real roots of q(x), and the terms (x
i
2
+ b
i
x + c
i
) are the irreducible quadratic factors of q(x) which correspond to pairs of complex conjugate roots of q(x).
Then the partial fraction decomposition of (x) is the following:
Here, P(x) is a (possibly zero) polynomial, and the A
ir
, B
ir
, and C
ir
are real constants. There are a number of ways the constants can be found.
The most straightforward method is to multiply through by the common denominator q(x). We then obtain an equation of polynomials whose left-hand side is simply p(x) and
whose right-hand side has coefcients which are linear expressions of the constants A
ir
, B
ir
, and C
ir
. Since two polynomials are equal if and only if their corresponding
coefcients are equal, we can equate the coefcients of like terms. In this way, a system of linear equations is obtained which always has a unique solution. This solution can
be found using any of the standard methods of linear algebra. It can also be found with limits (see Example 5).
Examples
Example 1
Here, the denominator splits into two distinct linear factors:
so we have the partial fraction decomposition
Multiplying through by x
2
+ 2x ! 3, we have the polynomial identity
Substituting x = !3 into this equation gives A = !1/4, and substituting x = 1 gives B = 1/4, so that
Example 2
After long-division, we have
Since (!4)
2
! 4#8 = !16 < 0, the factor x
2
! 4x + 8 is irreducible, and the partial fraction decomposition over the reals has the shape
Multiplying through by x
3
! 4x
2
+ 8x, we have the polynomial identity
Taking x = 0, we see that 16 = 8A, so A = 2. Comparing the x
2
coefcients, we see that 4 = A + B = 2 + B, so B = 2. Comparing linear coefcients, we see that !8 = !4A + C =
!8 + C, so C = 0. Altogether,
The following example illustrates almost all the "tricks" one would need to use short of consulting a computer algebra system.
Example 3
After long-division and factoring the denominator, we have
The partial fraction decomposition takes the form
Multiplying through by (x ! 1)
3
(x
2
+ 1)
2
we have the polynomial identity
Taking x = 1 gives 4 = 4C, so C = 1. Similarly, taking x = i gives 2 + 2i = (Fi + G)(2 + 2i), so Fi + G = 1, so F = 0 and G = 1 by equating real and imaginary parts. With C = G
= 1 and F = 0, taking x = 0 we get A ! B + 1 ! E ! 1 = 0, thus E = A ! B.
We now have the identity
Expanding and sorting by exponents of x we get
We can now compare the coefcients and see that
with A = 2 ! D and !A !3 D =!4 we get A = D = 1 and so B = 0, furthermore is C = 1, E = A ! B = 1, F = 0 and G = 1.
The partial fraction decomposition of (x) is thus
Alternatively, instead of expanding, one can obtain other linear dependences on the coefcients computing some derivatives at x=1 and at x=i in the above polynomial
identity. (To this end, recall that the derivative at x=a of (x"a)
m
p(x) vanishes if m > 1 and it is just p(a) if m=1.) Thus, for instance the rst derivative at x=1 gives
that is 8 = 2B + 8 so B=0.
Example 4 (residue method)
Thus, f(z) can be decomposed into rational functions whose denominators are z+1, z!1, z+i, z!i. Since each term is of power one, !1, 1, !i and i are simple poles.
Hence, the residues associated with each pole, given by
,
are
,
respectively, and
.
Example 5 (limit method)
Limits can be used to nd a partial fraction decomposition.
[1]
First, factor the denominator:
The decomposition takes the form of
As , the A term dominates, so the right-hand side approaches . Thus, we have
As , the right-hand side is
Thus, .
At , . Therefore, .
The decomposition is thus .
The role of the Taylor polynomial
The partial fraction decomposition of a rational function can be related to Taylor's theorem as follows. Let
be real or complex polynomials; assume that
that
and that
Dene also
Then we have
if, and only if, for each the polynomial is the Taylor polynomial of of order at the point :
Taylor's theorem (in the real or complex case) then provides a proof of the existence and uniqueness of the partial fraction decomposition, and a characterization of the
coefcients.
Sketch of the proof: The above partial fraction decomposition implies, for each 1 $ i $ r, a polynomial expansion
, as
so is the Taylor polynomial of , because of the unicity of the polynomial expansion of order , and by assumption .
Conversely, if the are the Taylor polynomials, the above expansions at each hold, therefore we also have
, as
which implies that the polynomial is divisible by
For also is divisible by , so we have in turn that is divisible by . Since we then
have , and we nd the partial fraction decomposition dividing by .
Fractions of integers
The idea of partial fractions can be generalized to other integral domains, say the ring of integers where prime numbers take the role of irreducible denominators. For example:
Notes
1. ^ Bluman, George W. (1984). Problem Book for First Year Calculus. New York: Springer-Verlag. pp. 250251.
References
Rao, K. R.; Ahmed, N. (1968). "Recursive techniques for obtaining the partial fraction expansion of a rational function". IEEE Trans. Educ. 11 (2). pp. 152154.
doi:10.1109/TE.1968.4320370 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1109%2FTE.1968.4320370).
Henrici, Peter (1971). "An algorithm for the incomplete decomposition of a rational function into partial fractions". Z. f. Angew. Mathem. Physik 22 (4). pp. 751755.
doi:10.1007/BF01587772 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2FBF01587772).
Chang, Feng-Cheng (1973). "Recursive formulas for the partial fraction expansion of a rational function with multiple poles". Proc. IEEE 61 (8). pp. 11391140.
doi:10.1109/PROC.1973.9216 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1109%2FPROC.1973.9216).
Kung, H. T.; Tong, D. M. (1977). "Fast Algorithms for Partial Fraction Decomposition". SIAM Journal on Computing 6 (3): 582. doi:10.1137/0206042
(http://dx.doi.org/10.1137%2F0206042).
Eustice, Dan; Klamkin, M. S. (1979). "On the coefcients of a partial fraction decomposition" 86 (6). pp. 478480. JSTOR 2320421
(https://www.jstor.org/stable/2320421).
Mahoney, J. J.; Sivazlian, B. D. (1983). "Partial fractions expansion: a review of computational methodology and efciency". J. Comp. Appl. Math. 9. pp. 247269.
doi:10.1016/0377-0427(83)90018-3 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2F0377-0427%2883%2990018-3).
Miller, Charles D.; Lial, Margaret L.; Schneider, David I. (1990). Fundamentals of College Algebra (3rd ed. ed.). Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc. pp. 364
370. ISBN 0-673-38638-4.
Westreich, David (1991). "partial fraction expansion without derivative evaluation". IEEE Trans. Circ. Syst. 38 (6). pp. 658660. doi:10.1109/31.81863
(http://dx.doi.org/10.1109%2F31.81863).
Kudryavtsev, L. D. (2001), "Undetermined coefcients, method of" (http://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php?title=u/u095160), in Hazewinkel, Michiel,
Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Springer, ISBN 978-1-55608-010-4
Velleman, Daniel J. (2002). "Partial fractions, binomial coefcients and the integral of an odd power of sec theta". Am. Math. Monthly 109 (8). pp. 746749.
JSTOR 3072399 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/3072399).
Slota, Damian; Witula, Roman (2005). "Three brick method of the partial fraction decomposition of some type of rational expression". Lect. Not. Computer Sci. 33516.
pp. 659662. doi:10.1007/11428862_89 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2F11428862_89).
Kung, Sidney H. (2006). "Partial fraction decomposition by division". Coll. Math. J. 37 (2): 132134. JSTOR 27646303 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/27646303).
Witula, Roman; Slota, Damian (2008). "Partial fractions decompositions of some rational functions". Appl. Math. Comput. 197. pp. 328336.
doi:10.1016/j.amc.2007.07.048 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.amc.2007.07.048). MR 2396331 (https://www.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=2396331).
External links
Weisstein, Eric W., "Partial Fraction Decomposition" (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PartialFractionDecomposition.html), MathWorld.
Blake, Sam. "Step-by-Step Partial Fractions" (http://calc101.com/webMathematica/partial-fractions.jsp).
[1] (http://cajael.com/eng/control/LaplaceT/LaplaceT-1_Example_2_6_OGATA_4editio.php) Make partial fraction decompositions with Scilab.
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Categories: Algebra Elementary algebra Partial fractions
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