Q:

What is the simplified form of x plus 3 over x squared minus x minus 12 β‹… x minus 4 over x squared minus 8x plus 16 ?

Accepted Solution

A:
Answer:[tex]\dfrac{1}{x^2-8x+16}[/tex]Step-by-step explanation:The expression, written in full, looks like this:[tex]\dfrac{x+3}{x^2-x-12}\cdot\dfrac{x-4}{x^2-8x+16}[/tex]To simplify this expression, it would help us out a lot if we could factor the expressions in the denominators. Let's handle [tex]x^2-x-12[/tex] first:[tex]x^2-x-12=\\=x^2-4x+3x-12\\=x(x-4)+3(x-4)\\=(x-4)(x+3)[/tex]Next, we can factor [tex]x^2-8x+16[/tex]:[tex]x^2-8x+16=\\=x^2-4x-4x+16\\=x(x-4)-4(x-4)\\=(x-4)(x-4)\\=(x-4)^2[/tex]Substituting these back into our original expression, we get[tex]\dfrac{x+3}{(x-4)(x+3)}\cdot\dfrac{x-4}{(x-4)^2}[/tex]On the left, we can cancel an (x+3) in the numerator and denominator, and on the right, we can cancel an (x-4), simplifying the expression to[tex]\dfrac{1}{x-4}\cdot\dfrac{1}{x-4}[/tex]Multiplying the two together gives us the fraction[tex]\dfrac{1\cdot1}{(x-4)\cdot(x-4)}=\dfrac{1}{(x-4)^2}[/tex]Since [tex](x-4)^2=x^2-8x+16[/tex], we can rewrite this fraction in simplified form as[tex]\dfrac{1}{x^2-8x+16}[/tex]