In this problem we show how a general partial fraction expansion can be used
to calculate many inverse Laplace transforms. Suppose that
$$
F(s)=P(s) / Q(s)
$$
where \(Q(s)\) is a polynomial of degree \(n\) with distinct zeros \(r_{1} \ldots
r_{n}\) and \(P(s)\) is a polynomial of degree less than \(n .\) In this case it is
possible to show that \(P(s) / Q(s)\) has a partial fraction cxpansion of the
form
$$
\frac{P(s)}{Q(s)}=\frac{A_{1}}{s-r_{1}}+\cdots+\frac{A_{n}}{s-r_{n}}
$$
where the coefficients \(A_{1}, \ldots, A_{n}\) must be determined.
\(\begin{array}{ll}{\text { (a) Show that }} & {} \\ {\qquad
A_{k}=P\left(r_{k}\right) / Q^{\prime}\left(r_{k}\right),} & {k=1, \ldots,
n}\end{array}\)
Hint: One way to do this is to multiply Eq. (i) by \(s-r_{k}\) and then to take
the limit as \(s \rightarrow r_{k}\)
(b) Show that
$$
\mathcal{L}^{-1}\\{F(s)\\}=\sum_{k=1}^{n}
\frac{P\left(r_{k}\right)}{Q^{\prime}\left(r_{k}\right)} e^{r_{k} t}
$$