Algebra Examples

$\frac{2 x + 1}{x^{2} + 4 x + 4} - \frac{6 x}{x^{2} - 4} + \frac{3}{x - 2}$

Step 1

Simplify each term.

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Step 1.1

Factor using the perfect square rule.

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Step 1.1.1

Rewrite $4$ as $2^{2}$ .

$\frac{2 x + 1}{x^{2} + 4 x + 2^{2}} - \frac{6 x}{x^{2} - 4} + \frac{3}{x - 2}$

Step 1.1.2

Check that the middle term is two times the product of the numbers being squared in the first term and third term.

$4 x = 2 \cdot x \cdot 2$

Step 1.1.3

Rewrite the polynomial.

$\frac{2 x + 1}{x^{2} + 2 \cdot x \cdot 2 + 2^{2}} - \frac{6 x}{x^{2} - 4} + \frac{3}{x - 2}$

Step 1.1.4

Factor using the perfect square trinomial rule $a^{2} + 2 a b + b^{2} = {(a + b)}^{2}$ , where $a = x$ and $b = 2$ .

$\frac{2 x + 1}{{(x + 2)}^{2}} - \frac{6 x}{x^{2} - 4} + \frac{3}{x - 2}$

Step 1.2

Simplify the denominator.

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Step 1.2.1

Rewrite $4$ as $2^{2}$ .

$\frac{2 x + 1}{{(x + 2)}^{2}} - \frac{6 x}{x^{2} - 2^{2}} + \frac{3}{x - 2}$

Step 1.2.2

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

$\frac{2 x + 1}{{(x + 2)}^{2}} - \frac{6 x}{(x + 2) (x - 2)} + \frac{3}{x - 2}$

Step 2

Find the common denominator.

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Step 2.1

Multiply $\frac{2 x + 1}{{(x + 2)}^{2}}$ by $\frac{x - 2}{x - 2}$ .

$\frac{2 x + 1}{{(x + 2)}^{2}} \cdot \frac{x - 2}{x - 2} - \frac{6 x}{(x + 2) (x - 2)} + \frac{3}{x - 2}$

Step 2.2

Multiply $\frac{2 x + 1}{{(x + 2)}^{2}}$ by $\frac{x - 2}{x - 2}$ .

$\frac{(2 x + 1) (x - 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)} - \frac{6 x}{(x + 2) (x - 2)} + \frac{3}{x - 2}$

Step 2.3

Multiply $\frac{6 x}{(x + 2) (x - 2)}$ by $\frac{x + 2}{x + 2}$ .

$\frac{(2 x + 1) (x - 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)} - (\frac{6 x}{(x + 2) (x - 2)} \cdot \frac{x + 2}{x + 2}) + \frac{3}{x - 2}$

Step 2.4

Multiply $\frac{6 x}{(x + 2) (x - 2)}$ by $\frac{x + 2}{x + 2}$ .

$\frac{(2 x + 1) (x - 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)} - \frac{6 x (x + 2)}{(x + 2) (x - 2) (x + 2)} + \frac{3}{x - 2}$

Step 2.5

Multiply $\frac{3}{x - 2}$ by $\frac{{(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2}}$ .

$\frac{(2 x + 1) (x - 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)} - \frac{6 x (x + 2)}{(x + 2) (x - 2) (x + 2)} + \frac{3}{x - 2} \cdot \frac{{(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2}}$

Step 2.6

Multiply $\frac{3}{x - 2}$ by $\frac{{(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2}}$ .

$\frac{(2 x + 1) (x - 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)} - \frac{6 x (x + 2)}{(x + 2) (x - 2) (x + 2)} + \frac{3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{(x - 2) {(x + 2)}^{2}}$

Step 2.7

Reorder the factors of $(x + 2) (x - 2) (x + 2)$ .

$\frac{(2 x + 1) (x - 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)} - \frac{6 x (x + 2)}{(x + 2) (x + 2) (x - 2)} + \frac{3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{(x - 2) {(x + 2)}^{2}}$

Step 2.8

Raise $x + 2$ to the power of $1$ .

$\frac{(2 x + 1) (x - 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)} - \frac{6 x (x + 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{1} (x + 2) (x - 2)} + \frac{3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{(x - 2) {(x + 2)}^{2}}$

Step 2.9

Raise $x + 2$ to the power of $1$ .

$\frac{(2 x + 1) (x - 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)} - \frac{6 x (x + 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{1} {(x + 2)}^{1} (x - 2)} + \frac{3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{(x - 2) {(x + 2)}^{2}}$

Step 2.10

Use the power rule $a^{m} a^{n} = a^{m + n}$ to combine exponents.

$\frac{(2 x + 1) (x - 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)} - \frac{6 x (x + 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{1 + 1} (x - 2)} + \frac{3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{(x - 2) {(x + 2)}^{2}}$

Step 2.11

Add $1$ and $1$ .

$\frac{(2 x + 1) (x - 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)} - \frac{6 x (x + 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)} + \frac{3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{(x - 2) {(x + 2)}^{2}}$

Step 3

Combine the numerators over the common denominator.

$\frac{(2 x + 1) (x - 2) - 6 x (x + 2) + 3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4

Simplify each term.

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Step 4.1

Expand $(2 x + 1) (x - 2)$ using the FOIL Method.

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Step 4.1.1

Apply the distributive property.

$\frac{2 x (x - 2) + 1 (x - 2) - 6 x (x + 2) + 3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.1.2

Apply the distributive property.

$\frac{2 x \cdot x + 2 x \cdot - 2 + 1 (x - 2) - 6 x (x + 2) + 3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.1.3

Apply the distributive property.

$\frac{2 x \cdot x + 2 x \cdot - 2 + 1 x + 1 \cdot - 2 - 6 x (x + 2) + 3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.2

Simplify and combine like terms.

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Step 4.2.1

Simplify each term.

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Step 4.2.1.1

Multiply $x$ by $x$ by adding the exponents.

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Step 4.2.1.1.1

Move $x$ .

$\frac{2 (x \cdot x) + 2 x \cdot - 2 + 1 x + 1 \cdot - 2 - 6 x (x + 2) + 3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.2.1.1.2

Multiply $x$ by $x$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} + 2 x \cdot - 2 + 1 x + 1 \cdot - 2 - 6 x (x + 2) + 3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.2.1.2

Multiply $- 2$ by $2$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 4 x + 1 x + 1 \cdot - 2 - 6 x (x + 2) + 3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.2.1.3

Multiply $x$ by $1$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 4 x + x + 1 \cdot - 2 - 6 x (x + 2) + 3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.2.1.4

Multiply $- 2$ by $1$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 4 x + x - 2 - 6 x (x + 2) + 3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.2.2

Add $- 4 x$ and $x$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x (x + 2) + 3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.3

Apply the distributive property.

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x \cdot x - 6 x \cdot 2 + 3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.4

Multiply $x$ by $x$ by adding the exponents.

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Step 4.4.1

Move $x$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 (x \cdot x) - 6 x \cdot 2 + 3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.4.2

Multiply $x$ by $x$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} - 6 x \cdot 2 + 3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.5

Multiply $2$ by $- 6$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} - 12 x + 3 {(x + 2)}^{2}}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.6

Rewrite ${(x + 2)}^{2}$ as $(x + 2) (x + 2)$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} - 12 x + 3 ((x + 2) (x + 2))}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.7

Expand $(x + 2) (x + 2)$ using the FOIL Method.

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Step 4.7.1

Apply the distributive property.

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} - 12 x + 3 (x (x + 2) + 2 (x + 2))}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.7.2

Apply the distributive property.

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} - 12 x + 3 (x \cdot x + x \cdot 2 + 2 (x + 2))}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.7.3

Apply the distributive property.

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} - 12 x + 3 (x \cdot x + x \cdot 2 + 2 x + 2 \cdot 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.8

Simplify and combine like terms.

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Step 4.8.1

Simplify each term.

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Step 4.8.1.1

Multiply $x$ by $x$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} - 12 x + 3 (x^{2} + x \cdot 2 + 2 x + 2 \cdot 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.8.1.2

Move $2$ to the left of $x$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} - 12 x + 3 (x^{2} + 2 \cdot x + 2 x + 2 \cdot 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.8.1.3

Multiply $2$ by $2$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} - 12 x + 3 (x^{2} + 2 x + 2 x + 4)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.8.2

Add $2 x$ and $2 x$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} - 12 x + 3 (x^{2} + 4 x + 4)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.9

Apply the distributive property.

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} - 12 x + 3 x^{2} + 3 (4 x) + 3 \cdot 4}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.10

Simplify.

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Step 4.10.1

Multiply $4$ by $3$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} - 12 x + 3 x^{2} + 12 x + 3 \cdot 4}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 4.10.2

Multiply $3$ by $4$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} - 12 x + 3 x^{2} + 12 x + 12}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 5

Simplify by adding terms.

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Step 5.1

Combine the opposite terms in $2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} - 12 x + 3 x^{2} + 12 x + 12$ .

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Step 5.1.1

Add $- 12 x$ and $12 x$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} + 3 x^{2} + 0 + 12}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 5.1.2

Add $2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} + 3 x^{2}$ and $0$ .

$\frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 - 6 x^{2} + 3 x^{2} + 12}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 5.2

Subtract $6 x^{2}$ from $2 x^{2}$ .

$\frac{- 4 x^{2} - 3 x - 2 + 3 x^{2} + 12}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 5.3

Add $- 4 x^{2}$ and $3 x^{2}$ .

$\frac{- x^{2} - 3 x - 2 + 12}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 5.4

Add $- 2$ and $12$ .

$\frac{- x^{2} - 3 x + 10}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 6

Factor by grouping.

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Step 6.1

For a polynomial of the form $a x^{2} + b x + c$ , rewrite the middle term as a sum of two terms whose product is $a \cdot c = - 1 \cdot 10 = - 10$ and whose sum is $b = - 3$ .

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Step 6.1.1

Factor $- 3$ out of $- 3 x$ .

$\frac{- x^{2} - 3 (x) + 10}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 6.1.2

Rewrite $- 3$ as $2$ plus $- 5$

$\frac{- x^{2} + (2 - 5) x + 10}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 6.1.3

Apply the distributive property.

$\frac{- x^{2} + 2 x - 5 x + 10}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 6.2

Factor out the greatest common factor from each group.

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Step 6.2.1

Group the first two terms and the last two terms.

$\frac{(- x^{2} + 2 x) - 5 x + 10}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 6.2.2

Factor out the greatest common factor (GCF) from each group.

$\frac{x (- x + 2) + 5 (- x + 2)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 6.3

Factor the polynomial by factoring out the greatest common factor, $- x + 2$ .

$\frac{(- x + 2) (x + 5)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 7

Cancel the common factor of $- x + 2$ and $x - 2$ .

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Step 7.1

Factor $- 1$ out of $- x$ .

$\frac{(- (x) + 2) (x + 5)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 7.2

Rewrite $2$ as $- 1 (- 2)$ .

$\frac{(- (x) - 1 (- 2)) (x + 5)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 7.3

Factor $- 1$ out of $- (x) - 1 (- 2)$ .

$\frac{- (x - 2) (x + 5)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 7.4

Rewrite $- (x - 2)$ as $- 1 (x - 2)$ .

$\frac{- 1 (x - 2) (x + 5)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 7.5

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{- 1 (x - 2) (x + 5)}{{(x + 2)}^{2} (x - 2)}$

Step 7.6

Rewrite the expression.

$\frac{- 1 (x + 5)}{{(x + 2)}^{2}}$

Step 8

Move the negative in front of the fraction.

$- \frac{x + 5}{{(x + 2)}^{2}}$