The document discusses using rational equations to solve word problems involving costs shared among groups of people. It provides an example where a taxi costs $20 to rent for a group of x people, with the cost shared equally. If one person leaves the group, the remaining people each pay $1 more. Setting up the cost equations and subtracting them allows determining that x must equal 5 people for the equations to hold true. A table is suggested to organize calculations for different inputs when solving similar rational equation word problems.