Q:

What is the simplified form of x minus 5 over x squared minus 3x minus 10 ⋅ x plus 2 over x squared plus x minus 12? 1 over the quantity x minus 3 times the quantity x plus 4 1 over the quantity x minus 3 times the quantity x plus 2 1 over the quantity x plus 4 times the quantity x minus 5 1 over the quantity x plus 2 times the quantity x minus 5

Accepted Solution

A:
The correct answer is C: 1/(x + 4)(x - 5)
   Why? Well, let's first simplify x^2 - 3x - 10 and x^2 + x - 12; the two denominators. Each of these should become an (x +/- number), and to figure out the number, as well as whether it is positive or negative, we can do a simple trickLook at the factors of the right number (In this case, -10 and -12)-10                   -121  * -10            1 * -12-1 * 10             -1 * 12-2 * 5             -2 * 62 * -5              2 * -6                       -3 * 4                        4 * -3
Now for part 2 Which of these pairs add up to the middle number? One of the pairs of -10 should make -3, and likewise, one of the pairs of -12 should make 1 (when x has no number in front of it you may safely assume it is 1). 2 - 5 = -3 and 4 - 3 = 1, so we now know that the 2 fraction equations simplified is x + 2 / (x + 2)(x - 5) * x - 3/(x -3)(x + 4)Notice anything repeating? As long as they are apart of the same fraction, we can cross out anything that has the same x - number. Crossing out both x + 2 and x - 3, we now simply have x - 5 * x + 4. Because we crossed out both numerators, the top numbers both become 1, thus giving our answer, C.