Practice Decomposition in Math

Use these practice problems to test your method after reviewing the concept explanation and worked examples.

Quick Recap

The strategy of breaking a complex mathematical object or problem into simpler, independent subproblems that can be solved separately.

Divide and conquer: a hard problem of size n becomes n easy problems. Long division, partial fractions, and integration by parts all use decomposition.

Example 1

easy
Factorise 12x^2 + 8x - 4 by decomposing the expression into simpler parts.

Example 2

medium
Decompose the partial fraction \dfrac{5x+1}{(x+1)(x-2)} into the form \dfrac{A}{x+1} + \dfrac{B}{x-2}.

Example 3

easy
Decompose solving the system 2x + y = 7 and x - y = 2 into steps.

Example 4

medium
Decompose the proof that \sqrt{2} + \sqrt{3} is irrational into logical sub-goals.