x+y

−−
≥ √xy
2

a+b −a−b
=
x−y y−x

x x + 1 − 1 x + 1 1 1
= = − = 1 −
x + 1 x + 1 x + 1 x + 1 x + 1

Don’t assume that the numbers are real, unless it’s clearly specified. You may suspect that numbers are complex if there’s
some weird relationships between expressions like x + y and x2 + y
2
.

If we get n! by dividing (n + 1)!/(n + 1) , it is clear that 0! = 1 . Similar logic follows for x0 . On the other hand,
= 1

0
0
= 1 makes sense if we look at the values x is approaching when x
x
= 0 .

Use the sign table to solve inequalities (you can’t multiply both sides, because you don’t know the sign of x). In the past,
trying to solve them by manipulation and cases lead to incomplete or incorrect results because it’s very easy to miss
something. Also, remember that bringing fractions to a common denominator doesn’t require you to multiply the whole
inequality, so there’s no need to worry whether the inequality sign should change or whatever. Bringing fractions to a common
denominator is done by multiplying each fraction with what is needed to bring it to a common denominator, so it doesn’t
change the inequality

Nemoj se sjebes kod baratanje sa multi-part ratios.

1 1 1

Remember that you can simplify numbers such as 32 3 to 2 ⋅ 4 , which can be useful if you have 4
3 3 as a common part of
other terms.

Don’t always distribute, especially when rationalizing and making kvadrat binoma. This is commonly useful with limits.

It’s useful to replace numbers like 999 with (1000 − 1), especially when they are raised to a power.

Ko sto nekad dodajes / oduzimas da bi completovao square, mozes i za obicni izrazi. Na primer ako imas (n − 1) negde na
levu stranu, a na desnu 9n − 3, onda to zapises ko 12 − 3n + 3 = 12 − 3(n − 1).

Kad imas neki odnos (cesto kod slicni trouglovi), izrazi taj odnos tako sto uvedes novu oznaku k . Onda odatle prebaci ako
treba da bi dobio neki izraz od k , tako da s druge strane imas nesto sto ti se javlja u izraz koji oces da skratis da bi dobio
resenje.

Ne smes olako da skratis x ako je u imenilac, jer mozda je 0 (al’ mozes da napravis prvi slucaj kad jeste 0 i drugi kad nije 0
pa da resis).

(1/x)
Kad uvodis smenu u nejednacine, pazi se kad vracas smenu da l’ se menja znak. Npr ako je t = 2 i dobijes da je
1/x
t > nesto , posto sledi da 2 > nesto , znamo da x < nesto .

Take care of ‘big parts’ first - the operations that work with more stuff. This is very useful in Calculus (which derivation
technique to use first).

Ako nekad ne ide uproscavanje izraza, probaj da prebacis na obrnutu stranu ranije, mozda ce ti se pojavi nesto prostije.

Every whole number divides 0 .

Be careful not to consider floor / ceiling divison and regular division to be the same.

Sometimes ‘separating’ a fraction is very useful, especially with some trigonometric and logarithmic manipulations:
3−log 5

(a + b)
2
= a
2 2
+ b . For example log 25 when with 5 log 25
.

Kad imas vise apsolutne vrednosti u izraz, napravis uslovi za svaku pa vidis kolko slucaja imas.

Kad imas vise uslova (odnosno vise jednakosti, vise stvari izrazene jedna prekl drugu), oznaci koje od njih si iskoristio, da bi
znao na dalje sta da koristis.

Nemoj uvek kad imas sistem da zamenjujes, nekad bolje da oduzmes multiple jedne od neku drugu.

Kad u zadatku trazi da diskutujes resenja u zavisnosti od realnog parametra m, to znaci da nadjes razlicita resenja za
razlicite ‘grupe’ brojeva koje m moz da bude. Npr, kod sistem jednacina, ako je m ≠ 0, ±2 onda sistem ima jedinstveno
resenje, tada zamenjujes i racunas. Kada je m = 2, 0 sistem nema resenje. Kada je m = −2 , sistem ima beskonacno
mnogo resenja. To sve stavis u curly braces.

If any of your steps are irreversible, then you must check for extraneous roots when you get to the end of the computation.
That’s because, at the end of your computational procedure, you’ll have not only the solution(s) to the original problem, but
possibly also some additional numbers that do not solve the original problem. Some examples of irreversible operations:
How do you check for them? Just plug each of your answers into the original problem, to see whether it works.

“square both sides” is not reversible. For instance, the equation x = –3 has only one solution, but when we square both
sides, we get x2 = 9, which has two solutions.
“multiply both sides by x–4” is not reversible. The resulting equation will have for its solutions all of the solutions of the
original equation plus the additional new solution x=4.
(n!)! ≠ n!!

(n)!! = 1 ⋅ 3 ⋅ 5 ⋯ (n − 1) if odd and 1 ⋅ 2 ⋅ 4 ⋯ n if even.

Kad treba negiras izraz sa apsolutnu vrednost, umesto da negiras to sto je bilo u apsolutnu vrednost, mozes da negiras izraz
sa druge strane jednakosti / nejednakosti (al’ promeni znak).

Kad radis sa apsolutnu vrednost, umesto da stavljas odma onako pod 1), 2) uslovi, bolje da prvo definises kada, kako i sta u
curly braces.

Nekad (pogotovo kod trigonometriju) je korisno da kod jedan proizovod, jedan cinilac podelis, a drugi pomnozis sa istim
izrazom, tako da se vrednost ne menja, al’ ti otvara mogucnost da zapises na drugi nacin, na primer tangens.

Kod logaritamske nejednacine, nemoj zaboravis da se znak menja ako je a izmedju 0 i 1.

Kad ih resavas i jedna strana ima logaritam a druga ne, mozes da:

pretvoris i drugu stranu u logaritam pa ga samo ponistis

ostavis b na tu stranu na koju je, da se ne bi poremetila nejednakost

Think carefully before using a substitutios as it might hide something that’d otherwise be obvious and lead to a solution. For
example, with logartihms, the property a log b a
= b .

Any real number can be written as an infinitely nested square root. Make it into a form (x − r)(x − s), by choosing the s to
be any root that is of an opposite sign of your chosen number r (to make things simpler, make the difference of their absolute
values 1 ). Then you multiply it out, put x2 on the left side and everything else on the right. Take the square root of both sides,
and depending on which of the roots r or s you want to represent, put + or − before the root. Now you have expressed x in
terms of x, so just keep plugging in that value on the right side. You get a recursive formula. You know that x is r or s
depending on which sign you put before the square root.

Exponents and Logarithms

x
a = b
a > 0 – da bi osigurali da je resenje realno, ako ovo ne vazi onda funkcija nije neprekidna, pa nam nije korisno i zato je
ovako definisemo. Sa kompleksni brojevi je druga prica.
a ≠ 1 – jer tad resenje moze da bude samo jedan i to za svaki eksponent.

b > 0 – vidi se kad nacrtas grafik da nikad ne dodiruje 0, kamo li da predje dole.

2 2 2
2x−x +1 2x−x +1 2x−x
25 + 9 = 34 ⋅ 15- Kod ovakve jednacine, prvo odvojis ovi +1 iz exponenti tako sto samo pomnozis
sa taj broj. Onda delis celu jednacinu sa bilo koji od ovi sabirci sto imaju exponenti (sa svem exponent), a najlakse je sa
2

najmanji, tj. sa 92x−x . Znaci to ce se skrati kod 9 , a kod 25 i 15 ce podelis deo sa eksponent a broj sto mnozis ce ostavis
posebno, npr. 25 ⋅ ( 25
9
)
2x−2
. Kod 15 ce dobijes isto samo 15/9, i to ce skratis na 5/3. Onda ovo sa 25 oznacis kao
25 ⋅ t
2
, a ovo sa 15 kao 15 ⋅ t.

Sovlving exponential equations with exponents on top of exponents is most easily done with taking the logarithm of both
sides. Pretty much all hard exponential equations (even when you have logarithm as an exponent), are easily solvable this
way. Logarithm both sides, especially if there’s multiplication between terms.

Pazi kod logaritmi kad imas paran stepen, npr. log x2 , ako oces da izbacis kvadrat onda mora ostavis 2 ⋅ log2 |x| (apsolutnu
vrednost), a ne samo x.

Kod stepeni mož izvlačiš i kad nemas taj stepen u svi sabirci, da bi dobio nesto povoljnije. Pogotovo je korisno kod graničnu
vrednost niza, gde ciljas da izvuces tako da ti ostane razlomak koji je manji od 1 , pa da to bude jednako nuli kako n → ∞ .
 x x−1
10 = 10 ⋅ 10

log(a + b) = log(a) + log(1 + b/a)

Watch out when multiplying inequalities by logarithms, it’s easy to miss when they’re negative (log x < 0 , for 0 < x < 1 ).

0.999 1
0.999 < 1

2
8 64
2 = 2

Squares, Roots and Absolute Values

2 2
(a − b) = (b − a)

Sometimes you can experience a mindfart when it comes to realizing why we split into cases for the absolute value. You may
think ‘Wait, yes it is negative in this domain, but why do we put a − to remove the absolute value? It’s going to be positive
anyway.’ That’s exactly why we put a − there, because removing the absolute value will leave that expression negative, so
negating it we get a positive, which is what we want since absolute value is always positive.

If you have a2 + b
2
+ c
2
, you can write (a + b + c+)2 and then subtract what’s needed to make them equal.

Kad imas koren + koren na jednu stranu jednacine, a na drugi nemas koren, nemoj odma podizes na stepen, nego prvo
prebaci jedan koren na drugu stranu.
–
Divide the expression by √2, and then it ‘gets inside’ the square roots, so the terms will be 2/2, 2/4, 2/16, because it gets
squared
–
√2 1
=
− −−−−−− −−−− −−−−−−−−−−−−
− −−−−−
– −−−−−−−
−
−
√ 2 + √ 2 + √2 1 1
√1 + √ + √
2 8

1 1 1

If the above expression had multiplications instead of additions, you would be allowed to seperate it like 2 2 ⋅ 2 4 ⋅ 2 8 .

You can rationalize inside a root.

17 ti je jedan od oni brojevi sto se lepo uklapaju za b u kvadratnu jednacinu, jer se moz dobije 289 − 64.
−− −
−
The rule √ab = √a √b holds for some but not all combinations of a and b. It holds when they are both non-negative reals,
but not always when we extend √ to complex numbers.

Kod zadaci gde imas realan parametar m ciji domen (tj. skup resenja treba odredis), se uglavnom rade tako sto:

1. nadjes −(x2 + x1 ) i x1 ⋅ x2 iz a(x − x1 )(x − x2 ) koji ti je dat u neku formu koja zavisi od m
2. data ti je i neka nejednacina koju ti koreni zadovoljavaju - tu u vecini slucajeva treba prebacis sve na levu stranu, da
stavis pod isti razlomak, i verovatno ce imas kvadrat gore il’ dole, pa znas da ovo sto nije kvadrat mora bude manje/vece
od 0 , u zavisnosti od nejednacinu
3. nekad ako kad prebacis sve odma oduzmes sta se moze, ce dobijes nesto korektno na kraj al’ beskorisno; mozda treba
drugacije napises dati izrazi u razlomak, npr. da popunis kvadrat najcesce, jer tad moz da iskoristis jednakosti koje imas
iz (1)

Completing the square is sometimes not very obvious. As a hint you can look at the other term(s) in the expression to see
what your conjugate should look like, so that you get a difference of squares.
IMPORTANT: Note the absolute value in the below example.