The Purplemath Forums

Hi, I have this long division exercise and I am completely stumped. This is the last in a set of 26, the others I have done without a problem, but I can't see how to start this one. Where I am stuck is in trying to divide the lead term 17x^4 by -5x^2 , which doesn't go exactly, so I end up with a fr...

Ah, thank you for that! I suspected it may be something like that, but it seemed so complicated, I was sure I was overlooking something simple. I will give it a go and see if I can get it right! Well the question in the book was find the remainder, which they gave as 2x^4, mine is below and try as I...

Hi, I have a problem: Factor a^2-x^2-a-x

I know what the answer is, but I don't understand how to get there...

I get as far as taking out the difference of two squares

(a+x)(a-x)-a-x

and now I'm lost as how to continue to get the answer which is (a+x)(a-x+1) it looks simple, but I'm baffled!

Ah, yes! Now I can see. I looked at that for so long, but for some reason it just wouldn't form in my head! Thanks very much.

I'm factoring the difference of two cubes: mx 3 +my 3 -x-y, I get this far m(x+y)(x 2 +xy+y 2 )-x-y and then I do this m(x+y)(x 2 +xy+y 2 )-1(x+y) to get (m-1)(x+y)(x 2 +xy+y 2 ) which is wrong. I've worked out what I should have done (I think!), (x+y)m(x 2 +xy+y 2 )-x-y (x+y)(mx 2 +mxy+my 2 )-x-y (...

Thank you for the explanation . When someone shows me something I'm stuck on, it always seems so easy! I need to slow down a bit and get more practice!

Change to equivalent fraction: 1-\frac{2a^2+3}{a^2-2a+3} these are the steps I take: 1. multiply the whole number by the denominator 1(a^2-2a+3) which just gives me a^2-2a+3 2. add this to the numerator part a^2-2a+3-(2a^2+3) 3. which gives me a^2-2a+3-2a^2-3 4. and put this over the...

It might prove helpful to put the terms in descending order before doing the simplification: Ha, of course! I believe that's why 'Doh!' was invented! :lol: :oops: Note: If the negation sign is, as you have posted, in front of the entire expression, then the sign between the two terms in the numerat...

I can think of no particular reason, other than the author's preference. It might be wise to consult with your instructor regarding preferred preference with respect to formatting. It's many years since I left school, I am using some old books written in the 1890s (which I found on the internet, no...