Algebra Examples

$x^{2 a - 4} - y^{6 b}$

Step 1

Rewrite $x^{2 a - 4}$ as ${(x^{a - 2})}^{2}$ .

${(x^{a - 2})}^{2} - y^{6 b}$

Step 2

Rewrite $y^{6 b}$ as ${(y^{3 b})}^{2}$ .

${(x^{a - 2})}^{2} - {(y^{3 b})}^{2}$

Step 3

Since both terms are perfect squares, factor using the difference of squares formula, $a^{2} - b^{2} = (a + b) (a - b)$ where $a = x^{a - 2}$ and $b = y^{3 b}$ .

$(x^{a - 2} + y^{3 b}) (x^{a - 2} - y^{3 b})$